The Political Economy of Digital Technology

Abstract

The world is undergoing a profound revolution in the technical conditions of production due to the rapid buildup and pervasive use of digital machinery. It constitutes a radical transformation in the scale and mode of labor cooperation in the reproduction of our lives. As with any other technological development under the rule of capital, the fruits of labor cooperation are expropriated from the workers and weaponized against them as vehicles of class exploitation, capital accumulation, imperialist domination, and militarism. Three ideologies accompany this revolution in capitalist production: disembodied technology, technological determinism, and the fear of the rebellious machines. Socialists face the challenge of appropriating and redirecting technology, turning it into a means of radical liberation and socialist construction.