Description
Book SynopsisThis book argues that, as industrial capitalism enters a period of prolonged crisis, a new paradigm of ‘industrious modernity’ is emerging. Based on small-scale, commons-based and market-oriented entrepreneurship, this industrious modernity is being pioneered by the many outcasts that no longer find a place within a crumbling industrial modernity.
This new industriousness draws on the new planetary commons that have been generated by the globalization of industrial capitalism itself. The outsourcing of material production to global supply chains has made the skills necessary to engage in commodity production generic and common, and the globalization of media culture and the internet have generated new knowledge commons. Together these new commons have radically reduced the capital requirements to engage in economic activity, and are providing new, highly efficient tools of productive organization at little cost.
This timely analysis of the new forces of change in our societies today will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the impact of digital technologies and the future of capitalism.
Trade Review‘The struggle for the future of capitalism is uncertain, but Adam Arvidsson is a singular and observant voice in describing the global repositioning towards new forms of “industrious” capitalism that are creating vast neo-nomadic economies, beyond the control both of nation-states and of the governance mechanisms of global financial capital. One of the most original books and analyses of the last decade. I cannot recommend it enough.’
Michel Bauwens, Founder of the P2P Foundation
‘Arvidsson's book works like a cold shower: every sentence wakes you up from a slumber. His thesis is that we are witnessing a re-feudalization of capitalism, where ordinary people matter very little, and society is carved out between powerful lords. This book is innovative, bold, and will be discussed.’
Eva Illouz, EHESS, Paris
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgements
1 To Change the World: On Industrious Modernity
2 The Crisis of Digital Capitalism
3 The Industrious Economy
4 Industrious Capitalism
5 A New Industrious Revolution?
Notes
