Surveillance capitalism reproduces the very collectivism its neoliberal founders opposed.
Evidence
This collectivist orientation is an unexpected development in light of surveillance capitalism’s origins in a neoliberal creed conceived sixty years ago as a reaction to the collectivist totalitarian nightmares of the mid-twentieth century. Later, with the demise of the fascist and socialist threats, neoliberal ideology cunningly succeeded in redefining the modern democratic state as a fresh source of collectivism to be resisted by any and all means. Indeed, the evisceration of the double movement has been prosecuted in the name of defeating the supposed collectivist hazards of “too much democracy.” Now the hive emulates the “termite state,” which even the democracy-despising Hayek derided as incompatible with human freedom. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1604
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the double-movement concept from Polanyi and connects to other critiques of neoliberalism’s self-contradictions. — connects to: Neoliberalism framed itself as a defence of individual freedom against all collectivist systems.; Neoliberalism supplied sheltering ideologies that surveillance capitalism exploited — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1923; Surveillance capitalism constitutes a privatized market-based collectivism — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1603 (+1 more)
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: how precisely does the hive-as-termite-state parallel mid-century planned-economy collectivism, and where does it break down?
Broader Connections
- Surveillance capitalism constitutes a privatized market-based collectivism
#qualifies(0.95) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1603 - Neoliberalism supplied sheltering ideologies that surveillance capitalism exploited
#expands(0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1923 - Surveillance capitalism thrives where individualized consumption meets a hostile neoliberal paradigm
#corroborates(0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 96