Open AccessThe Meaning of the Matrix: Towards a Cybernetic Critical Theory of Capitalism
Author(s) -
Shay Hershkovitz
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
issues in social science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2329-521X
DOI - 10.5296/iss.v6i1.12953
Subject(s) - marxist philosophy , capitalism , criticism , epistemology , sociology , meaning (existential) , terminology , cybernetics , critical theory , systems theory , social science , social theory , social system , philosophy , law , political science , politics , linguistics , computer science , artificial intelligence
Marxist criticism is most discernible; despite the oft-repeated claim that it is now irrelevant, belonging to an age now past. This essay assumes that criticism originating in the Marxist school of thought continue to be relevant also in this present time; though it may need to be further developed and improved by integrating newer critical approaches into the classic Marxist discourse. This essay therefore integrates basic Marxist ideas with key concepts from ‘social systems theory’; especially the theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann's. In this light, capitalism is conceptualized here as a ‘super (social) system’: a meaning-creating social entity, in which social actors, behaviors and structures are realized. This theoretical concept and terminology emphasizes the social construction of control and stability, when discussing the operational logic of capitalism.