Unchecked market forces produce wealth divergence threatening democracy

Evidence

A précis of Piketty’s extensive research may be stated simply: capitalism should not be eaten raw. Capitalism, like sausage, is meant to be cooked by a democratic society and its institutions because raw capitalism is antisocial. As Piketty warns, “A market economy… if left to itself… contains powerful forces of divergence, which are potentially threatening to democratic societies and to the values of social justice on which they are based.” Many scholars have taken to describing these new conditions as neofeudalism, marked by the consolidation of elite wealth and power far beyond the control of ordinary people and the mechanisms of democratic consent. Piketty calls it a return to “patrimonial capitalism,” a reversion to a premodern society in which one’s life chances depend upon inherited wealth rather than meritocratic achievement. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 136

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘patrimonial capitalism’ and ‘neofeudalism’ as frames Zuboff will extend to the digital economy.
• CANDY: ‘Capitalism should not be eaten raw’ is a memorable, tweetable line that compresses Piketty’s whole thesis.
• XREF: connects to: Unchecked market economies generate divergence that threatens democratic societies. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1642; Neoliberal deregulation erodes democracy as politics abdicates to market pressure — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 81; Formal political equality masks deep economic servitude that hollows out democracy — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 406 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoliberal deregulation erodes democracy as politics abdicates to market pressure #corroborates (0.92) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 81
• Formal political equality masks deep economic servitude that hollows out democracy #corroborates (0.88) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 406
• Extreme wealth inequality makes common legislation impossible in a democracy #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 363
• Gilded Age elites circumscribed democracy to protect their economic regime #exemplifies (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 343
• Wealth no longer directly auctions political influence as it once did #qualifies (0.78) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 787
• Economic dominance does not automatically translate into political rule #complicates (0.75)
• Pseudoconservatives misdirect resentment at democratic form rather than economic inequality #exemplifies (0.74) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1797