Chapter 12’s title is “The Information Economy and the Labour Theory of Value”. It discusses aspects of Marx’s labour theory of value in the context of the information industries. First, taking the Temporal Single-System Interpretation of Marx’s labour theory of value as methodology, the chapter calculates economic demographics at the level of socially necessary labour time and prices of an example case. Second, the chapter questions the assumption that the labour theory of value cannot be applied to the information industries. This chapter tests this hypothesis with an analysis of the development of labour productivity in six countries. Chapter 12 concludes that the labour theory of value is an important tool for understanding the information economy and the peculiarities of the information commodity.
Chapter 13 is the conclusion of the book Digital Capitalism. It presents the main findings of the previous chapters and discusses further implications.
1.3 What is Capitalism?
In order to understand what digital capitalism is, we need an understanding of what capitalism is all about. We need to ask: What is capitalism?
Werner Sombart: Modern Capitalism as Entrepreneurial Acquisition
Werner Sombart (1863–1941) was a German sociologist and economist. In 1902, he published the book Der moderne Kapitalismus (Modern Capitalism). He contributed to the sociology of capitalism. Sombart defines capitalism as an economic system dominated by capital that is focused on the acquisition of money by competition and technological increase of productivity:
capitalism designates an economic system significantly characterized by the predominance of “capital” […] The spirit, or the economic outlook, of capitalism is dominated by three ideas: acquisition, competition, and rationality. The purpose of economic activity under capitalism is acquisition, and more specifically acquisition in terms of money. The idea of in creasing the sum of money on hand is the exact opposite of the idea of earning a livelihood, which dominated all precapitalistic systems, particularly the feudal-handicraft economy. […] While acquisition constitutes the purpose of economic activity, the attitudes displayed in the process of acquisition form the content of the idea of competition. […] Economic rationality penetrates gradually into other cultural spheres, reaching even those which are only remotely connected with economic life. […] capitalist technology must insure a high degree of productivity. […] The technology characteristic of the capitalist system must also lend itself most readily to improvement and perfection. For constant technical improvements are an important weapon in the hands of the capitalist entrepreneur, who seeks to eliminate his competitor and to extend his market by offering goods superior in quality or lower in price. […] The Ideal Entrepreneur combines the traits of inventor, discoverer, conqueror, organizer, and merchant. (Sombart 2017, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15)
Chapter One | Introduction: What is Digital Capitalism?
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What is Capitalism?