Surveillance capitalism formally abandons capitalism’s historic reciprocity with workers and consumers.
Evidence
In another decisive break with capitalism’s past, surveillance capitalists abandon the organic reciprocities with people that have long been a mark of capitalism’s endurance and adaptability. Symbolized in the twentieth century by Ford’s five-dollar day, these reciprocities hearken back to Adam Smith’s original insights into the productive social relations of capitalism, in which firms rely on people as employees and customers. Smith argued that price increases had to be balanced with wage increases “so that the labourer may still be able to purchase that quantity of those necessary articles which the state of the demand for labour… requires that he should have.” The shareholder-value movement and globalization went a long way toward destroying this centuries-old social contract between capitalism and its communities, substituting formal indifference for reciprocity. Surveillance capitalism goes further. It not only jettisons Smith, but it also formally rescinds any remaining reciprocities with its societies. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1586
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s sacrifice article themes and to classic critiques of capitalism’s social contract from Smith through the shareholder-value era. — connects to: Hyperscale surveillance capitalists barely depend on society for employees — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1593; Surveillance capitalism treats humans as dispossessed natural resources denied self-determination. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 318
- DEEPTHINKING: The claim that surveillance capitalism doesn’t merely weaken but formally rescinds reciprocity reframes the discontinuity debate as a structural, not gradual, break.
Broader Connections
- Hyperscale surveillance capitalists barely depend on society for employees
#expands(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1593 - Surveillance capitalism treats humans as dispossessed natural resources denied self-determination.
#expands(0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 318