Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism
A new version of capitalism, grounded in technology and science, is spawning new forms of corporate power and organization that will have major implications for the twenty-first century. Technological creativity is thereby turned into a commodity in new corporate regimes that are primarily oriented toward research and intellectual appropriation. This phenomenon is likely to have major social, economic, and political consequences, as the new corporatism becomes ever more intrusive and rapacious through its control over technology and innovation.

In his provocative book Technocapitalism, Luis Suarez-Villa addresses this phenomenon from the perspective of radical political economy and social criticism. Grounded in the premise that relations of power influence how human creativity and technology are exploited by the new corporatism, the author argues that new forms of democratic participation and resistance are needed, if the social pathologies created by this new version of capitalism are to be checked.

Considering the new sectors affected by technocapitalism, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, and genomics, Suarez-Villa deciphers the common threads of power and organization that drive their corporatization. These new sectors, and the corporate apparatus set up to extract profit and power through them, are imposing standards, creating business models, molding social governance, and influencing social relations at all levels. The new reality they create is likely to affect most every aspect of human existence, including work, health, life, and nature itself.
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Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism
A new version of capitalism, grounded in technology and science, is spawning new forms of corporate power and organization that will have major implications for the twenty-first century. Technological creativity is thereby turned into a commodity in new corporate regimes that are primarily oriented toward research and intellectual appropriation. This phenomenon is likely to have major social, economic, and political consequences, as the new corporatism becomes ever more intrusive and rapacious through its control over technology and innovation.

In his provocative book Technocapitalism, Luis Suarez-Villa addresses this phenomenon from the perspective of radical political economy and social criticism. Grounded in the premise that relations of power influence how human creativity and technology are exploited by the new corporatism, the author argues that new forms of democratic participation and resistance are needed, if the social pathologies created by this new version of capitalism are to be checked.

Considering the new sectors affected by technocapitalism, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, and genomics, Suarez-Villa deciphers the common threads of power and organization that drive their corporatization. These new sectors, and the corporate apparatus set up to extract profit and power through them, are imposing standards, creating business models, molding social governance, and influencing social relations at all levels. The new reality they create is likely to affect most every aspect of human existence, including work, health, life, and nature itself.
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Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism

Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism

by Luis Suarez-Villa
Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism

Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism

by Luis Suarez-Villa

eBook

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Overview

A new version of capitalism, grounded in technology and science, is spawning new forms of corporate power and organization that will have major implications for the twenty-first century. Technological creativity is thereby turned into a commodity in new corporate regimes that are primarily oriented toward research and intellectual appropriation. This phenomenon is likely to have major social, economic, and political consequences, as the new corporatism becomes ever more intrusive and rapacious through its control over technology and innovation.

In his provocative book Technocapitalism, Luis Suarez-Villa addresses this phenomenon from the perspective of radical political economy and social criticism. Grounded in the premise that relations of power influence how human creativity and technology are exploited by the new corporatism, the author argues that new forms of democratic participation and resistance are needed, if the social pathologies created by this new version of capitalism are to be checked.

Considering the new sectors affected by technocapitalism, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, bioinformatics, and genomics, Suarez-Villa deciphers the common threads of power and organization that drive their corporatization. These new sectors, and the corporate apparatus set up to extract profit and power through them, are imposing standards, creating business models, molding social governance, and influencing social relations at all levels. The new reality they create is likely to affect most every aspect of human existence, including work, health, life, and nature itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781439900444
Publisher: Temple University Press
Publication date: 09/25/2009
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 230
File size: 445 KB

About the Author

Luis Suarez-Villa is a Professor in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in the political economy of technology, development, and corporate capitalism.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Experimentalism 
Society as Laboratory 
Accumulation and Power 
Experimentalism as System 
Conclusion

Creativity as a Commodity 
Creativity versus Commodification 
Utility and Value 
Reproduction and Commodification 
Commodification as Process 
Conclusion

Networks as Mediators 
Network Extent 
Hierarchies and Control 
Power and Inequity 
Change over Change 
Conclusion

Decomposing the Corporation 
Networks versus the Corporation 
Decomposition and Power 
Pathology of Decomposition 
Conclusion

Experimentalist Organizations 
Systematized Research Regimes 
Collaboration and Power 
Pathological Pursuits 
Conclusion

Challenges 
Downfall of Public Democracy 
Hegemony of Corporatism 
Empowering Creativity 
Rediscovering the Social

Notes 
Index

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