Will the future of capitalism will look more like feudalism?

Jodi Dean, writing in the LA Review of Books, makes a compelling argument that the future of capitalism will look more like neofedudalism, which remember feudalism is the name of the social system that pre-dates capitalism. Dean writes:

Over the past decade, “neofeudalism” has emerged to name tendencies associated with extreme inequality, generalized precarity, monopoly power, and changes at the level of the state.

The tendencies of global capitalism in the past two decades, particularly in the reconstruction after the global finaincial crisis of 2008, as Branko Milanovic has detailed are rising within country inequalities, as well as the rise of precarious working class, the so-called precariat, who are threatened not only by the global pool of cheaper labor but also developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence. The new working class, particularly in wealthy enclaves in both the global north and global south, will be more a “property-less underclass will survive by servicing the needs of high earners as personal assistants, trainers, child-minders, cooks, cleaners, et cetera” than middle class white collar workers or industrial workers.

Nik Janos

Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico.

greenspacenotes.org
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