Philipp Staab
Search for other papers by Philipp Staab in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
The roots of digital capitalism
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

Chapter 2 describes the historical background of digital capitalism. It starts by drawing a broader picture of the post-Second World War political economy, where the 1970s saw the OECD world stumbling into the current situation of long-term stagnation. Digital technology emerged as an outlier, securing consistent growth through successive capitalist crises. The chapter describes the emergence and growth of the digital technologies as an effect of multiple strategies for capitalist rejuvenation: automation intensified from the 1970s onwards, boosting demand for digital equipment. Globalisation and financialisation of production caused demand for digital information and communication technologies to surge, spurring growth for the leading digital companies of the time. On the more political side, military Keynesianism and the deregulation of telecommunications paved the way for the rise of big tech. The chapter pays particular attention to the different national trajectories of privatisation in the 1990s. These help explain why today’s big tech companies appeared in the United States rather than Europe or Japan, which were also leading technology regions at that time.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 522 522 40
Full Text Views 7 7 0
PDF Downloads 7 7 0