Hackers versus Vectoralists. A Critical Look at Post-marxism by Mackenzie Wark

The article discusses the views of Professor Mackenzie Wark on the transforma­tion of modern capitalist society. According to Wark, we do not live entirely in a capitalist society anymore. Ideas about “eternal capitalism”, which are only replenished by various “modifiers” (cognitive, communicative, etc.), should be resisted, as these ideas, due to their pessimistic fatalism, only serve to strengthen class society. At the same time, Wark believes that capitalism does not necessa­rily have to be followed by a communist society that resolves class antagonisms. On the contrary, today “something worse” than capitalism is coming. Wark writes about a new class antagonism – between “hackers” as creators of new in­formation and vectoralists who have control over information vectors and exploit the direct producers through copyright, media and power over giant Internet plat­forms. Despite a number of bold, significant, and non-trivial ideas that contrast strongly with most left-wing utopias, the article points out several contradictions and weaknesses in the concept under discussion. In the author’s view, by posi­tioning her ideas as the view of the exploited class of “hackers”, Wark in fact ex­presses the interests of the new cultural elites.

Capitalism · Class (philosophy) · Communism · Hacker · Politics · Power (physics) · Contemporary Cultural and Social Studies · Digital Education and Society · Globalization and political ideologies