Beyond Marx: Externalities in the Age of Tech Oligarchy and Digital Class Struggle
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34140/bjbv7n2-042Palavras-chave:
Karl Marx, externalities, digital capitalism, platform economy, tech oligarchy, surveillance capitalism, class struggle, political economyResumo
The digital transformation, marked by the rise of powerful tech oligarchies and platform economies, presents novel challenges to classical Marxian analyses of capitalism.
While concepts like surplus value extraction and class struggle remain relevant, this paper argues that the pervasive generation of externalities, uncompensated costs imposed on third parties, constitutes a critical dimension often underemphasized in traditional frameworks focused on the direct capital-labor relationship.
Drawing on contemporary scholarship on surveillance capitalism, platform economies, and the political economy of AI, alongside insights from a generative discussion, this conceptual analysis employs the lens of externalities to examine the dynamics of digital capitalism.
We analyze how phenomena such as mass data extraction, algorithmic management, market distortion by dominant platforms, and broader societal and environmental impacts function as significant negative externalities.
These unaccounted costs, ranging from privacy erosion and labor precarity to stifled innovation and democratic deficits, are argued to be not mere market failures but potentially central features of value accumulation for the tech oligarchy.
The paper concludes that fully understanding contemporary power, inequality, and class dynamics requires augmenting Marxian theory to systematically account for the scale and scope of these digital externalities, highlighting the need for updated analytical frameworks and robust regulatory interventions.
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