Capital Is Dead
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It's not capitalism, it's not neoliberalism - what if it's something worse? In this radical and visionary new book, McKenzie Wark argues that information has empowered a new kind of ruling class. Through the ownership and control of information, this emergent class dominates not only labour but capital as traditionally understood as well. And it’s not just tech companies like Amazon and Google. Even Walmart and Nike can now dominate the entire production chain through the ownership of not much more than brands, patents, copyrights, and logistical systems. While techno-utopian apologists still celebrate these innovations as an improvement on capitalism, for workers—and the planet—it’s worse. The new ruling class uses the powers of information to route around any obstacle labor and social movements put up. So how do we find a way out? Capital Is Dead offers not only the theoretical tools to analyze this new world, but ways to change it. Drawing on the writings of a surprising range of classic and contemporary theorists, Wark offers an illuminating overview of the contemporary condition and the emerging class forces that control—and contest—it.
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Among the most influential pieces of theory I have read in a very long time. Wark bluntly challenges the established forms by which we address the upper class, arguing that in order to imagine and work towards a better future we must first discard the old forms of conceptualizing it. I would hesitate to call it inspiring (existential terror remains such even with the language to know it), but Wark's ability to blend technical, theoretical, and cultural forces into a unified theory has the effect of finally emerging from a deep sleep.
The last few chapters get a bit in the weeds dismissing Marxist theorists directly, serving as a preemptive defense against their arguments but moving away from the tangible rhetoric of the earlier chapters. It makes the book somewhat less accessible as a whole, but is a minor blemish on what is still a very readable academic text. Essential reading for modern Marxist's, particularly the more obnoxious and online among them (heh, wonder who that's for).
