Against Social Networks & the False Communities of Capital

Against Social Networks & the False Communities of Capital
This zine was added to our catalog more than 5 years ago. You may want to verify information contained within is still relevant.

This zine provides a detailed critique of social media/social networks and the role that they play in contemporary capitalism. Rather than just focusing on the particulars of social networking platforms—for example on Facebook’s mining of personal data—this text explores how these networks embody the ideologies of capitalism, democracy, and citizenship. In addition to the more theoretical arguments, the text also examines the impossibilities of using these platforms as a way of bringing down capitalism.

The authors engage a variety of other critical theories, from Marx to contemporary anarchist writing to strengthen their arguments. The text can be quite dense—perhaps due to the translation from the original Spanish—but overall it offers an important analysis.

Excerpt

With the technology that virtual spaces offer, more comfortable and more accessible, now the reproduction of all the everyday poverty is better managed and channeled, useful for filling the voids facing the necessity of belonging to some standard or stereotype dictated by publicity, the dominant morality, or the self-marginalist ideologies; if that wasn’t enough, applied psychology will add in some of its functions to these virtual spaces, procuring an optimal performance to manipulate the emotions of its users, who without realizing immediately, will end up hooked to the dynamics of these companies to which they have subscribed.

Download

Zines are in PDF format. Choose imposed for printing and reading for reading on your device. The files are hosted on Archive.org, a service that does not log IP addresses.

Share on Social Media

These links are not an endorsement of social media. They are provided for convenience and to help foster the spread of anarchist ideas.