CfP Critical Perspectives on Digital Capitalism: Theories and Praxis

Special Issue of the journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & 
Critique (http://www.triple-c.at)
Edited by Thomas Allmer, Sevda Can Arslan, and Christian Fuchs
(Media Systems and Media Organisation Research Group, Paderborn University)
https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/announcement/view/40

Submission deadline: Thursday, April 20, 2023
Please submit abstracts of 250-600 words by e-mailing the completed 
submission form
http://triple-c.at/f/FirstName_FamilyName_tripleC_DigitalCapitalism.docx
to [log in to unmask]

This special issue presents critical perspectives on digital capitalism. 
Its contributions show how we can best critically theorise digital 
capitalism and what forms of political praxis exist and are needed in 
social struggles that stand in the context of digital capitalism.

The issue will feature contributions by Jodi Dean, Christian Fuchs, 
Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri, and Sabine Pfeiffer.

Facebook and Google exploit our digital labour. That's digital 
capitalism. In late 2022 and early 2023, Google laid off 12,000 
employees, Microsoft 10,000, Twitter more than 10,000, Amazon 18,000, 
and Facebook 11,000. That's digital capitalism. Algorithms are used by 
corporations for socially sorting and discriminating against customers 
who struggle to make ends meet and live in deprived neighbourhoods. 
That's digital capitalism. Lots of clickwork is conducted by poorly paid 
women in the Global South. That's digital capitalism. Digital fascism, 
fake news, post-truth culture and algorithmic politics circulate on 
capitalist and state-capitalist Internet platforms. That's digital 
capitalism. Information war and echo chambers polarise the digital 
public sphere, making a new World War between imperialist powers that 
compete at the global level for the control of territory, economic power 
and political as well as ideological hegemony and the nuclear 
annihilation of humankind and life on Earth more likely. That's digital 
capitalism.

Recently, digital workers assembling iPhones protested against the poor 
working conditions they faced at Foxconn in Zhengzhou during the 
COVID-19 pandemic. That's a praxis that challenges digital capitalism. 
In 2021, warehouse workers founded the Amazon Labor Union. That's a 
praxis that challenges digital capitalism. The non-profit federated 
Internet platform Mastodon has become a viable digital alternative in 
the light of users' discontent with Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. 
That's a praxis that challenges digital capitalism. Internet experts and 
users have co-written the Public Service Media and Public Service 
Internet Manifesto that demands turning the Internet into a public good 
and advancing digital democracy. That's a praxis that challenges digital 
capitalism. While fascists spread post-truth on social media, the 
progressive news hour Democracy Now! has since 1996 utilised the 
non-commercial Internet, Public Service Media, as well as community 
radio and television stations for broadcasting a high-quality, 
independent news programme that reaches millions of viewers and 
questions fake news. That's a praxis that challenges digital capitalism.

Digital capitalism matters. Digital capitalism shapes our lives. Digital 
capitalism needs to be better understood. We need critical theories of 
digital capitalism. We need to better understand praxes that challenge 
digital capitalism and aim at fostering digital democracy and digital 
socialism. tripleC's special issue on "Critical Perspectives on Digital 
Capitalism: Theories and Praxis" wants to contribute to establishing 
foundations of critical theories and the philosophy of praxis in the 
light of digital capitalism.

We invite contributions that engage with theoretical and praxeological 
questions.
More information:
https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/announcement/view/40