The “artistic” undertones of critique and negation in the spirit of networks—the backbone of The New Culture ofCapitalism (Sennett 2006)— renders the humanist critique also the “critical critique,” at the heart of which is a requirement for critical distance from the system and from its effects (power, comfort, and privilege). It is this type of critical distance that critical theory attempted to advance in theory and in practice. And it is precisely this type of critique that we now see at the heart of the spirit of the new capitalism, “from within the belly of the beast” in Liu’s words (Liu 2004, 77). Chapter 8 will ponder the significance of the incorporation of negation and critique into the spirit of network capitalism and will assess its viability as a substantive critical stance.
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Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age