Contemporary Capitalism and the 4th Industrial Revolution
In this episode Atul Bhardwaj discusses his papers on Contemporary Capitalism and the 4th Industrial Revolution. The first paper titled 'Decay of Liberalism and Withering Away of the Left: Fourth Industrial Revolution' talks about how the technology-driven revolution is fundamentally affecting the relationship between capital and labour. And how this change is driving right-wing populism across the globe while the left seems to be left behind.
The second paper titled 'The Capital–Labour Rupture and the World Order' takes this further arguing that cyber-capitalism is the driving force of the current changes in global political economy. It argues that with the help of these technologies, capitalism is breaking free from labour and is being supported by the right-wing conservatives who are undermining the educated middle class and polarising the society to help reduce the population pool that will be entitled to universal basic income in the ensuing age of mass joblessness.