Capitalism operated simultaneously through multiple modes of production, not a single wage-labor system.

Evidence

An important point in this discussion, however, is that wage labor did not spread evenly across the world. In other words, the capitalist revolution did not look the same or have the same results outside of Europe. The “coloniality of power,” as described by Aníbal Quijano, means that opportunities for labor were always linked to race and geographically differentiated: while wage labor became the norm for white Europeans, their non-Western counterparts continued to be exploited under earlier models (slavery, serfdom, and independent-commodity production) that were nonetheless compatible with capitalism. Colonial labor had always had a racial component added to the other categories of worker classification; one’s place within the system and the kind of labor one engaged in was determined by one’s geographical and geopolitical location as much as one’s race, sex, and labor power. This did not stop being the case under capitalism, at least not for the colonies. Although we may speak of a general transition during the colonial period from a tributary to a capitalist mode of production, the truth is that this transition was not experienced by everyone on equal terms. What defines the history and development of capitalism is, in fact, its ability to simultaneously operate with multiple modes of production: a capitalist metropolis in which workers earn wages can coexist with tributary colonies in which workers are enslaved through mercantile systems of exchange, setting in motion large-scale flows of commodities and people that progressively extended across the world the inequalities inherent in the capitalist system. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 252

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Quijano’s ‘coloniality of power’ — a load-bearing concept for the book’s argument that data colonialism extends a pre-existing structure.
• XREF: Connects to Marx’s modes-of-production analysis and to the reader’s data-colonialism framing, where ‘coloniality of power’ is a rival-definitional building block. — connects to: The world forms one contradictory capitalist unity, not three separate worlds — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 163; South African capitalism depends on both free and forced labor simultaneously. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 586; Capitalism can rest securely on unfree, racially-fractioned labor rather than free labor. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 602 (+3 more)
• QUESTION: If capitalism runs on multiple simultaneous modes of production, does data colonialism similarly run on multiple modes of data extraction beyond the wage-like ‘data labor’?

Broader Connections

• South African capitalism depends on both free and forced labor simultaneously. #exemplifies (0.95) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 586
• Capitalism can rest securely on unfree, racially-fractioned labor rather than free labor. #exemplifies (0.92) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 602
• Slave labor was integral to modern capitalism, not a pre-capitalist stage #exemplifies (0.88)
• Colonial capitalism arises from conquest and unfree labor, not free markets. #exemplifies (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 589
• The world forms one contradictory capitalist unity, not three separate worlds #contradicts (0.72) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 163