Comments
on the book Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological
Innovation and Corporatism
(from the book’s cover)
“In
an era when technology is routinely treated as magical and liberatory,
Luis Suarez-Villa has written the long overdue and necessary antidote to such
flabby analysis and ludicrous self-congratulation. Technocapitalism is an outstanding book that should be read
by all students, scholars, and citizens who need to understand technology in
the real world of capitalism and corporate power rather than the fairy tale
world of the upper middle-class individuals doing their own thing in the sacred
free marketplace. Our species faces
extraordinarily serious issues in the coming generation, and an honest
assessment of the political and economic forces around us is the necessary
place to begin.”
Robert
W. McChesney, Gutgsell
Endowed Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
“Suarez-Villa
has created a highly original work, carefully crafted and well-written. This is a sweeping and grand theoretical
analysis of the post post-industrial iteration of capitalism that he terms ‘technocapitalism.’ The synthesis of literatures is very
impressive but the work goes well beyond synthesis to create new arguments and
paradigms for understanding contemporary capitalism and its possible
futures. The analysis is rooted in a
strong humanism that embraces technological change whilst regretting the corporatist
forces that shape its direction and manifestations. Technocapitalism represents an important contribution to the
scholarly literature.”
Joel
Bakan, author/filmmaker of The Corporation, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia
“Technocapitalism
raises important critical perspectives about what Suarez-Villa finds to be the
latest major stage of global capitalism.
He gathers and analyzes several aspects of the social organization of
technological change to provide a distinctive synthesis of literatures and
arguments.”
Richard
Wolff, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Visiting
Professor, New School University in New York