Digital despotism or platform capitalism? A critique of political economy against the theory of “techno-feudalism”

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8132002
AutoresChuan Jiang (0000-0002-1771-5956, autor correspondente), Jiang Chuan (0009-0004-7063-8007, Southeast University, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Data de publicação2026-02-28
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/08969205261426490
OpenAlexW7133125898
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas9

This paper launches a systematic critique of the recently emerged “techno-feudalism” thesis from a political economy perspective. This thesis analogizes platform dynamics to “fief-rent,” “data-tribute,” and “personal dependency,” suggesting a feudal resurgence in the digital age. Contra this, we argue that platform despotism is not a regression but an upgraded form of capitalist domination mediated by data and algorithms. Integrating Marx’s history of capitalist factory despotism with Althusser’s theory of the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), we construct an analytical framework of “critique-tracing-characterization-transcendence.” An empirical focus on food delivery riders demonstrates how platforms execute “precision exploitation” via the “algorithmic factory” and achieve “ideological interpellation” through “digital patriarchy.” The so-called “techno-feudalism” is thus a “digital variant” of capitalist production relations. Finally, the paper proposes pathways for transcendence, ranging from ideological struggle and techno-economic democratization to global governance

Capitalism · Construct (python library · Democratization · Digital economy · Factory (object-oriented programming · Feudalism · Ideology · Politics · State (computer science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Digital Education and Society · Digital Platforms and Economics