"The Californian Ideology" is a 1995 essay by English media theorists Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron of the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

. Barbrook calls it a "critique of dotcom neoliberalism".Barbrook 2007
Imaginary Futures: Other Works
In the essay, Barbrook and Cameron argue that the rise of networking technologies in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

in the 1990s was linked to American

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

and a paradoxical hybridization of beliefs from the political left and right in the form of hopeful

technological determinism Technological determinism is a reductionist theory in assuming that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is ...

. The essay was published in ''Mute'' magazineThe Californian Ideology, Barbrook, Cameron, 1995-09, Mute Vol 1 #3 CODE, , Mute, London, http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/californian-ideology in 1995 and later appeared on the '' nettime'' Internet mailing list. A revised version was published in ''Science as Culture'' in 1996. The essay has since been further revised and translated.

Andrew Leonard Andrew Leonard (born 1962) is an American journalist who writes feature articles for ''San Francisco'' and contributes to Medium. From 1995 to 2014 he wrote for '' Salon.com''. He has also written for ''Wired''. Career Leonard is credited with c ...

of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'' called the essay "one of the most penetrating critiques of

neo-conservative Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party alo ...

digital hypesterism yet published". In contrast, ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' magazine publisher Louis Rossetto wrote that the essay showed "profound ignorance of economics".

Critique

During the 1990s, members of the entrepreneurial class in the

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

industry in

vocally promoted an ideology that combined the ideas of

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, ; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba a ...

with elements of radical

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...

, and neoliberal economics, using publications like ''

'' magazine to promulgate their ideas. This ideology mixed

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

and New Right beliefs based on their shared interest in

anti-statism Anti-statism is an approach to social, economic or political philosophy that opposes the influence of the state over society. It emerged in reaction to the formation of modern sovereign states, which anti-statists considered to work against the ...

, the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...

, and

techno-utopianism Technological utopianism (often called techno-utopianism or technoutopianism) is any ideology based on the premise that advances in science and technology could and should bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian ...

. Proponents believed that in a

post-industrial In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related t ...

, post-capitalist,

knowledge-based economy The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on Knowledge intensive services, knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in Technol ...

, the exploitation of information and knowledge would drive growth and wealth creation while diminishing the older power structures of the state in favor of connected individuals in

virtual communities A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual commu ...

. Critics contend that the Californian Ideology strengthens corporations' power over the individual, increases social stratification, and is distinctly Americentric. Barbrook argues that members of the

digerati The digerati (or digirati) are the elite of digitalization, social media, content marketing, computer industry and online communities. The word is a portmanteau, derived from "digital" and " literati", and reminiscent of the earlier coinage ''gl ...

who adhere to the Californian Ideology embrace a form of reactionary modernism. According to him, "American neo-liberalism seems to have successfully achieved the contradictory aims of reactionary modernism: economic progress and social immobility. Because the long-term goal of liberating everyone will never be reached, the short-term rule of the digerati can last forever."Barbrook 1999

Influences

Sociologist Thomas Streeter of the University of Vermont has said that the Californian Ideology appeared as part of a pattern of Romantic individualism with

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American project developer and writer, best known as the co-founder and editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He has founded a number of organizations, including the WELL, the Global Business Networ ...

as a key influence.

Adam Curtis Adam Curtis (born 26 May 1955) is an English documentary filmmaker. Curtis began his career as a conventional documentary producer for the BBC throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The release of '' Pandora's Box'' (1992) marked the in ...

connects the Californian Ideology's origins to

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

's philosophy of

Objectivism Objectivism is a philosophical system named and developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive a ...

.Curtis 2011

Reception

While generally agreeing with Barbrook and Cameron's central thesis, David Hudson of ''Rewired'' took issue with their portrayal of ''Wired'' magazine's position as representative of every viewpoint in the industry. "What Barbrook is saying between the lines is that the people with their hands on the reins of power in all of the wired world...are guided by an utterly skewed philosophical construct." Hudson maintained that there were a multitude of different ideologies at work. Andrew Leonard of ''

'' called the essay "a lucid lambasting of right-wing libertarian digerati domination of the Internet" and "one of the most penetrating critiques of neo-conservative digital hypesterism yet published". Leonard also noted what he called former ''Wired'' editor and publisher Louis Rossetto's "vitriolic" response. Rossetto's rebuttal, also published in '' Mute'', criticized the essay as showing "profound ignorance of economics". He also criticized the essay's suggestion that "a uniquely European (but not even vaguely defined) mixed economy solution" would be better for the internet, arguing that Europe's technological development was hampered by "huge plutocratic organizations like Siemens and Philips hat conspirewith bungling bureaucracies to hoover up taxes collected by local and Euro-wide state institutions and shovel them into mammoth technology projects which have proven to be, almost without exception, disasters" and by "High European taxes which have restricted spending on technology and hence retarded its development". Gary Kamiya, also of ''Salon'', found the essay's main points valid, but, like Rossetto, attacked Barbrook's and Cameron's "ludicrous academic-Marxist claim that high-tech libertarianism somehow represents a recrudescence of racism." Architecture historian Kazys Varnelis of Columbia University found that in spite of the privatization the Californian Ideology advocates, Silicon Valley's and California's economic growth was "made possible only due to exploitation of the immigrant poor and defense funding...government subsidies for corporations and exploitation of non-citizen poor: a model for future administrations." In the 2011 documentary '' All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace'', Curtis concludes that the Californian Ideology failed to live up to its claims: In 2015, ''

'' wrote, "Denounced as the work of 'looney lefties' by Silicon Valley's boosters when it first appeared, The Californian Ideology has since been vindicated by the corporate take-over of the Net and the exposure of the NSA's mass surveillance programmes." In 2022, Hasmet M. Uluorta and Lawrence Quill wrote, "The recent tech-lash, concerns over the gig-economy, and the dubious imperatives of datamining, require us to reconsider the prospects for open societies that rely upon platforms as we enter the next phase of the Californian Ideology."

Notes

References

* Barbrook, Richard. Andy Cameron. (1996)

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gains power and becomes Rege ...

br>The Californian Ideology
. ''Science as Culture'' 6.1 (1996): 44–72. * Barbrook, Richard. Andy Cameron (1995
Basic Banalities
* * Barbrook, Richard. (2000)

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

Cyber-Communism: How The Americans Are Superseding Capitalism In Cyberspace
. ''Science as Culture''. 9 (1), 5-40. * . * Borsook, Paulina. (2000). ''Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech''. PublicAffairs. . * Curtis, Adam (2011). "Love and Power". '' All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace''. BBC. * Hudson, David. (June 24, 1996).
The Other Californians
. ''Rewired: Journal of a Strained Net''. * Kamiya, Gary. (January 20, 1997).

. ''Salon.com''. * Leonard, Andrew. (September 10, 1999).
The Cybercommunist Manifesto
. ''Salon.com''. * May, Christopher. (2002). ''The Information Society: A Sceptical View''. Wiley-Blackwell. . * Ouellet, Maxime. (2010). "Cybernetic capitalism and the global information society: From the global panopticon to a 'brand' new world". In Jacqueline Best and Matthew Paterson, ''Cultural Political Economy''. 10. Taylor & Francis. . * Rossetto, Louis. (1996).
19th Century Nostrums are not Solutions to 21st Century Problems
. ''Mute''. 1 (4). * Streeter, Thomas. (1999)

In Andrew Calabrese and Jean-Claude Burgelman, eds., ''Communication, Citizenship, and Social Policy: Re-Thinking the Limits of the Welfare State''. Rowman & Littlefield, 49–64. * Turner, Fred. (2006). ''From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism''. University Of Chicago Press. . * Varnelis, Kazys. (2009).
Complexity and Contradiction in Infrastructure
". Ph.D. Lecture Series. Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

External links

at the Hypermedia Research Centre
The Californian Ideology
revised SaC version {{DEFAULTSORT:Californian Ideology Ideologies California culture Computing culture Technological utopianism Controversies within libertarianism Criticisms of economics 1995 essays Transhumanism