Capitalism’s expansion axis has shifted to a new raw material

Evidence

Colonialism has not been the standard reading of what is changing in contemporary capitalism. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that capitalism’s current growth cannot be captured simply in terms of ever-more ambitious business integration or the ever-expanding exploitation of workers. Some have characterized today’s developments as increasing waves of “accumulation by dispossession,” a feature characteristic of capitalism throughout its history. But even this fails to grasp how the axis of capitalism’s expansion has transformed, through a shift in the supposed “raw material” that capitalism aspires to get under its control. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 65

Categorization

• XREF: Directly engages Harvey’s ‘accumulation by dispossession’ and positions data colonialism against both Marxian and surveillance-capitalism frames; useful for mapping the rival schools. — connects to: Capitalism now annexes life processes beyond labor, which orthodox labor-centered Marxism cannot explain. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 143
• QUESTION: How does the ‘shift in raw material’ claim precisely differ from Zuboff’s surveillance-capitalism account of behavioral surplus as the new commodity?