CAMRI | Theory, Reality, and Possibilities for a Digital/Communicative Socialist Society

Theory, Reality, and Possibilities for a Digital/Communicative Socialist Society

A Research Paper by Dimitris Boucas, published by Triple-C

Digital capitalism is guided by the organising principles of digital automation, information processing, and communication. It rests on the consolidation of relations of exploitation of digital labour based on flexibility and generating precarity. It makes profit from user data under conditions of surveillance. What would an alternative paradigm look like? This paper aims to sketch a possible socialist society resting on digital technology but organised on a different logic, namely that of autonomous production, leisure, and social engagement. It draws on relevant theories of the Left, evaluates them against the reality of digital capitalism, and suggests structural and user practice alternatives that can pave the way towards a digital/communicative socialism. This paper engages with the works of Czech philosopher Radovan Richta (1924-1983) and Austrian-French philosopher André Gorz (1923-2007). It shows that their ideas on the scientific and technological revolution and post-industrial socialism are highly relevant for the analysis and discussion of digital/communicative socialism.

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Image: TripleC, used with permission.

About Dimitris Boucas

Dr Dimitris Boucas is Lecturer at the Westminster School of Media and Communication.

He has a background in both information technology and social sciences, with a degree in informatics from the University of Patras in Greece, a degree in social sciences from the Open University, UK, a MSc in science and technology policy from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in information society and the role of the state (with the Greek information society as case study) from the LSE.

In 2016-2018 he was a Research Fellow at the University of Westminster working on the EU Horizon 2020 project “netCommons: Network Infrastructure as Commons”, which examined community networks as complementary or alternative to the standard Internet. In 2014-2015 he worked on a scoping study on the state of the media sector and implications for independent journalism in Greece, funded by the Open Society Foundations. In 2013-2014 he was funded by the LSE to conduct research into citizen networks and their deployment of new media for purposes of support and sustainability in austerity Greece.

Dimitris’s research interests are broadly the social, political and economic aspects of media, communication and the digital society: they include political economy of communication, information society theory and policy, critical studies of innovation in the digital economy, media policy and politics, public service broadcasting, alternative economies and media, work in the digital economy, media and communication theory, and social theory.

Dimitris has extensive teaching experience in information society, media and communication theory and policy, new media, innovation management and qualitative research methods. He has taught at various Universities, including the University of Westminster, the LSE, City University of London, the University of Paris (Dauphine) and the University of Piraeus.