Netocracy was a term invented by the editorial board of the American technology magazine ''Wired'' in the early 1990s. A
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsInternet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...
'' and '' aristocracy'', ''netocracy'' refers to a perceived global upper-class that bases its power on a technological advantage and networking skills, in comparison to what is portrayed as a bourgeoisie of a gradually diminishing importance.
The concept was later picked up and redefined by
Alexander Bard
Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard (born 17 March 1961) is a Swedish musician, author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist religious movement alongside ...
and Jan Söderqvist for their book ''Netocracy — The New Power Elite and Life After Capitalism'' (originally published in Swedish in 2000 as ''Nätokraterna –t boken om det elektroniska klassamhället'', published in English by Reuters/Pearsall UK in 2002).
The netocracy concept has been compared with Richard Florida's concept of the
creative class
The creative class is the posit of American urban studies theorist Richard Florida for an ostensible socioeconomic class. Florida, a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of To ...
. Bard and Söderqvist have also defined an
underclass
The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class.
The general idea that a class system includes a population ''under'' the working class has ...
in opposition to the netocracy, which they refer to as the consumtariat.
The consumtariat
Alexander Bard describes a new underclass called the consumtariat, a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsconsumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
and
proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
, whose main activity is consumption, regulated from above. It is kept occupied with private problems, its desires provoked with the use of advertisements and its active participation is limited to things like product choice, product customization, engaging with interactive products and life-style choice.
Cyberdeutocracy
Similar to netocracy, is the concept of cyberdeutocracy. Karl W. Deutsch in his book ''The Nerves of Government: Models of Political Communication and Control'' hypothesized about "information elites, controlling means of mass communication and, accordingly, power institutions, the functioning of which is based on the use of information in their activities." Thus Deutsch introduced the concept of deutocracy, combining the words 'Deutsch' and 'autocracy' to get the new term. Cyberdeutocracy combines 'deutocracy' with the prefix 'cyber-' and is defined as a political regime based on the control by the political and corporate elites of the information and communication infrastructure of the Internet space. As a tool of social control, Cyberdeutocracy allows elites to engage in the:
* destruction and/or transformation of existing meanings, symbols, values, and ideas
* generation of new meanings, symbols, values, and ideas
* introduction of these transformed and new meanings, symbols, values, and ideas into the public consciousness to shape society's perception of political reality.
The term was coined by Phillip Freiberg in his 2018 paper "What are CyberSimulacra and Cyberdeutocracy?"
Other usages
Netocracy can also refer to "Internet-enabled democracy" where issue-based politics will supersede party-based politics. In this sense, the word ''netocracy'' is also used as a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...
; January 15, 2004
See also
References
Further reading
*
Slavoj Zizek
Slavoj may refer to:
*Karel Slavoj Amerling (1807–1884), Czech teacher, writer, and philosopher
*Slavoj Černý (born 1937), Czech former cyclist
*Slavoj Žižek (born 1949), Slovenian philosopher
See also
*Záboj and Slavoj, outdoor sculpture ...
A Hacker Manifesto
''A Hacker Manifesto'' is a critical manifesto written by McKenzie Wark, which criticizes the commodification of information in the age of digital culture and globalization. It was published in the United States in 2004.
Structure, style and in ...