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This book explores digital technologies from a distinctive postmodern perspective. Contrary to common belief, Sassower argues that digital technologies have allowed for the centralization of economic power. Further, where new digital devices offer the potential to express freedom and bring about revolutions they also allow for increasing possibilities for surveillance of citizens. The digital age and the current state of the global political economy are therefore linked and focusing on the promise of new technologies without locating them in their political structures and institutions or economic realities can be misleading and dangerous.

This special issue introduces and unpicks some of the intellectual wiring behind the emerging thinking on postcapitalism and the post-work society on the contemporary left. The first part considers the empirical claims made around the changing face of work and economic life in contemporary capitalism and the potential for a postcapitalist or post-work alternatives.The second part considers the wider political underpinnings and consequences of this vision of capitalism and its transformation.

Penseur atypique, André Gorz (1923-2007) fait partie de ces auteurs hétérodoxes qui ont toujours mis en avant l'instabilité constitutive du capitalisme. Sa critique de l'économie accorde une place centrale au thème du travail : bien qu'il soit le plus souvent contraint, encadré et subi, le travail peut rester un lieu de libération personnelle. Mais dans quelle mesure le revenu doit-il rester lié à une situation d'emploi ?

In this paper, I explore the implications for gender equality of building democratic institutions in workplaces and democratic planning in the economy. I review proposals for postcapitalism and consider whether those institutional innovations are likely to address three aspects of gender equality: discrimination and harassment at work, adequate provision for care work, and social control over consumer decisions. I propose three areas for developing competency at democratic decision making that could improve gender equity.JEL Classification: P4, B54

AbstractThis article introduces the special issue on the politics of postcapitalism. Considering the theoretical foundations, empirical perspectives and political ramifications of claims made about a coming 'post‐work' or 'postcapitalist' society, it maps existing debates through a discussion of two key recent texts, Paul Mason's Clear Bright Future and Aaron Bastani's Fully Automated Luxury Communism. It first surveys how the relationship between labour market trends, technological change and wider political‐economic shifts is articulated in the postcapitalist literature. It then explores how concepts from Marx are deployed to depict social relations as a constraint on technological development and its utopian potentialities, leading to political demands for new class actors and electoral blocs centring on the new forms of economic and political activity associated with digital networks. It also considers the role of the state and how this theoretical and political approach envisions historical change, situating utopian visions of an incipient postcapitalist alternative to capitalism within the contemporary political context of authoritarian populism and challenges to liberal democracy. Finally, it explores the continuing relevance of humanism as a critical counterpoint to the social and philosophical agenda of present day 'posthumanism'. It concludes that, in unfavourable political conditions, it would be strategically unwise to stake too much on an over‐optimistic approach to the unfolding future. This outlook, it is suggested, carries considerable risks and consequences for a contemporary left in search of a viable electoral coalition and route back to power.

Paul Mason is an interesting figure. UK's former Chancellor, George Osborne, recently described him as 'revolutionary Marxist' and compared him with Micky Mouse in a speech to the House of Commons. Trying to read this positively, Mason is undoubtedly a very progressive and energetic figure on the left in the UK. At a time when journalists claim to be independent and value-free and are simultaneously unable to conduct proper and informative interviews with politicians due to their pseudo-critical and aggressive style, it is refreshing to see journalists like Paul Mason in the arena. He is able to conduct critical, investigative and in-depth journalism and has proven his ability for many years at the BBC and until recently as Economics Editor at Channel 4 News. In order 'to escape the constraints of impartiality rules governing broadcasters' and to engage more fully in the debates of the political left, Mason decided to leave Channel 4 News and now works as a freelance journalist . Mason is quite active and well-known on the political left. He recently produced an independent documentary about the crisis in Greece (#ThisIsACoup), hosts talks with people like Yanis Varoufakis in front of a massive audience, contributes to Labour's new economics series and is followed by more than 400,000 people on Twitter. In short, Paul Mason is an important figure on the political left in the UK who understands how to play the game within corporate media. It is precisely in this context that we should see his new book. ; Output Type: Book Review

Paul Mason is an interesting figure. UK's former Chancellor, George Osborne, recently described him as 'revolutionary Marxist' and compared him with Micky Mouse in a speech to the House of Commons . Trying to read this positively, Mason is undoubtedly a very progressive and energetic figure on the left in the UK. At a time when journalists claim to be independent and value-free and are simultaneously unable to conduct proper and informative interviews with politicians due to their pseudo-critical and aggressive style , it is refreshing to see journalists like Paul Mason in the arena. He is able to conduct critical, investigative and in-depth journalism and has proven his ability for many years at the BBC and until recently as Economics Editor at Channel 4 News. In order 'to escape the constraints of impartiality rules governing broadcasters' and to engage more fully in the debates of the political left, Mason decided to leave Channel 4 News and now works as a freelance journalist . Mason is quite active and well-known on the political left. He recently produced an independent documentary about the crisis in Greece (#ThisIsACoup) , hosts talks with people like Yanis Varoufakis in front of a massive audience , contributes to Labour's new economics series and is followed by more than 400,000 people on Twitter.

This dissertation argues that the major theories of global justice (specifically within the cosmopolitan tradition) have missed an important aspect of capitalism in their attempts to deal with the most pernicious effects of the global economic system. This is not merely a left critique of cosmopolitanism (though it is certainly that as well), but its fundamental contribution is that it applies the insights of Frankfurt School Critical Theorist Theodor Adorno's negative dialectics to offer an internal critique of cosmopolitanism. As it stands, much of the global justice and cosmopolitanism literature takes global capitalism as an unsurpassable and a foundationally unproblematic system, often ignoring completely the relationship between the psycho-socially conditioned ideological aspects of capitalism and the horizon of achievable politics and social development. Using the philosophies and social theories of Adorno and Erich Fromm, I argue that there is a crucial psycho-social dimension to capitalism, or capitalistic mentality—represented in and functionally reproduced by transnational capitalism—that undermines the political aspirations of normative theories of cosmopolitanism, on their own terms. The project concludes with an exploration of Marxist, neo-Marxist, and post-Marxist theories as a potential source of alternatives to address the flaws within cosmopolitanism with respect to its general acceptance and under-theorizing of capitalism. The conclusion reached here is that even these radical approaches fail to take into account the near-pervasive influence of capitalism on the minds of radicals and activists working for progressive change or simply reject the potentials contained in existing avenues for global political and economic change (something which the cosmopolitan theories explored in earlier chapters do not do). Based again on the work of Adorno and Fromm, this dissertation argues that the best path forward, practically and theoretically, is by engaging cosmopolitanism and neo-/post-Marxism productively around this concept of the capitalistic mentality, building towards a praxeological theory of postcapitalist cosmopolitanism framed by a negative dialectical resuscitation of the concepts of class struggle and unlimited democracy. This postcapitalist cosmopolitanism emphasizes non-exploitative economic and political relations, cooperation, compassion, sustainability, and a participatory-democratic civic culture.

This major new manifesto offers a "clear and compelling vision of a postcapitalist society" and shows how left-wing politics can be rebuilt for the twenty-first century (Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism Neoliberalism isn't working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite. Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms. This new edition includes a new chapter where they respond to their various critics