{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","id":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","uuid":"8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age The Spirit of Networks","normalized_title":"mediaandnewcapitalisminthedigitalagethespiritofnetworks","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781349379743","isbns":["9781349379743","9780230106062"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":258,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Media%20and%20New%20Capitalism%20in%20the%20Digital%20Age%20The%20Spirit%20of%20Networks","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/8a3d8546-8fbb-485e-b423-37bc08c3284a/search"},"page":{"printed_page":21,"pdf_page":27,"physical_index":27,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"058ea7d66399c5ce194fc76cdb04315817be4927fa44b42cc6326ce260d4ff88"},"chapter":"Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age","content":"The shift to a post-Fordist society is not only economic but also structural and entails a transformation in the relationships among three key actors: capital, the state, and labor. Fordist society was characterized by a strong social compact between capital and labor within the framework of a strong state. Capital made concessions to labor in the form of high wages, job security, and high levels of employment; labor conceded to capital’s needs by curbing its most militant demands for a radical social revolution and providing capital with labor power for production and consumption power to purchase increasing volumes of products. The state gained political legitimacy from both groups by transforming itself into an interventionist, Keynesian, welfare state that protected capitalism from both internal failures and an external overthrow and, at the same time, provided a buffer zone between labor and the harsh realities of markets (by providing social services and installing various security schemes), hence further embedding markets in society. Appropriately, Fordist society was dominated in advanced capitalist societies by a political culture of social democracy (Harvey 2005; Polanyi 2001; Offe 1984a; Ram 2007).\n\nPost-Fordist society is characterized by a new constellation of power among these three actors, with capital gaining increased independence from both labor and the state. This has brought about all but the demise of the Fordist social compact. Capital has become more mobile, global, and detached from particular localities and polities, leaving labor weaker. The state, likewise, lost much of its leverage to exert control over capital, which now operates on a global free market, and thus it reacted by enacting measures of self-discipline—deregulation, privatization, and downsizing. As labor became weaker vis-à-vis capital, it all but evaporated discursively, institutionally, and sociologically in Western societies. The power of the working class as a frame of reference for political mobilization or for the construction of political identity has been diluted as was the power of the labor movement and big unions. Collective bargaining was substituted by individual contracts, and tenured, long-term employment schemes were substituted by untenured, temporary ones (Piven and Cloward 1997; Bauman 2001; Beck 2000). Post-Fordist society is appropriately dominated by a political culture of neoliberalism (Harvey 2005).\n\nThe emergence of the new capitalism has been closely intertwined with a transformation in the dominant technology system from mechanical and centralized to informational and networked. The networked organization (Castells 1996); the command and control of headquarters in a global chain of production (Robins and Webster 1999; Harvey 1989); “just-in-time” production (Harvey 1989); the expansion in space of production, distribution, and consumption processes (Beniger 1986); and the increased flexibility of the work process (Greenbaum 1995; Robins and Webster 1999)—network technology has been instrumental in bringing about and materializing all these changes, which is precisely why so many have called ours the information, or network, society (Bell 1999; Castells 1996, 1997, 1998; Duff 2000; Lash 2002; Mackay 2003; Mattelart 2003; May 2002; Robins and Webster 1999; Webster 2002; Stehr 2001; Barney 2004).\n\nCapitalism<sub>,</sub> Technology<sub>,</sub> and the Digital Discourse\n\n21","previous_page":20,"next_page":22}