Platform Socialism
Whoever controls the platforms, controls the future. Platform Socialism sets out an alternative vision and concrete proposals for a digital economy that expands our freedom.
Powerful tech companies now own the digital infrastructure of twenty-first century social life. Masquerading as global community builders, these companies have developed sophisticated new techniques for extracting wealth from their users.
James Muldoon shows how grassroots communities and transnational social movements can take back control from Big Tech. He reframes the technology debate and proposes a host of new ideas from the local to the international for how we can reclaim the emancipatory possibilities of digital platforms. Drawing on sources from forgotten histories to contemporary prototypes, he proposes an alternative system and charts a roadmap for how we can get there.
pre-order now: http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745346977/platform-socialism/
Endorsements
‘A ground-breaking, ambitious and rigorous account of how and why we must take control over contemporary digital technologies’
– Nick Srnicek, Lecturer in Digital Economy at King’s College London and author of Platform Capitalism
‘A clarion call for hope amid twenty-first century doom. With analytical flair, he shows that platforms are not invincible and that their infrastructure may be the key to a better world’
– Phil Jones, author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism
‘A compelling account of the political struggles that will be needed to challenge capital’s control over digital platforms, and an essential read for anyone who believes in technology’s emancipatory potential.’
– Wendy Liu, author of Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism
‘A punchy analysis of the platform economy that offers more than a critique of big tech’s vision of our collective future. Muldoon sketches the contours of a democratic socialist alternative’
– Aaron Benanav, Researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin and author of Automation and the Future of Work
‘Encourages us to open our minds fully to the possibility of an alternative future, in which technology is put to work for the many, not the few’
– Lizzie O’Shea, lawyer and author of Future Histories
Reviews - Articles - Podcasts:
Alina Utrata, ‘Platform Socialism‘ The Anti-Dystopians. 11 July 2022.
Michael Albert, “Vision Talking Digital Socialism with James Muldoon.” Revolution Z. 27 June 2022.
Robert Gorwa, “How We Can Socialize Big Tech” Jacobin. 5 June 2022.
Ciaran Cummins, ‘Platform Socialism: James Muldoon in conversation with Demos. 25 May 2022.
Ayeisha Thomas-Smith, ‘Who Owns the Internet?‘ New Economics Foundation. 16 May 2022.
Robert Gorwa, ‘Digital Oligarchy‘ Los Angeles Review of Books. 6 May 2022.
Nicholas Pritchard, ‘Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover Shows the Need for New Platform Models’ Al Bawaba. 5 May 2022.
Eloise Hendy, ‘How could we make a better Internet?‘ The Face. 4 May 2022.
Josef Muehlbauer, ‘Dr James Muldoon – Arendt, Machiavelli, Tristan Harris, Social Dilemma, Fabianism, Guild Socialism‘ Varna Peace Institute. 2 May 2022.
The Alan Turing Institute, ‘James Muldoon – Social Ownership in the Digital Economy‘ 27 April 2022.
Julia Rone, ‘Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Future from Big Tech‘. Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy. 26 April 2022.
Marxist Education Project, ‘Platform Socialism with James Muldoon‘. 23 April 2022.
Martin Upchurch, ‘Platform Socialism by James Muldoon review — can we ‘take back control’ from Big Tech?‘ Socialist Worker. 14 February 2022.
The Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster, ‘Platform Socialism‘ 10 February 2022.
David Broder, ‘The Internet Platforms We All Use Should Be Publicly Owned and Democratically Controlled‘. Jacobin. 9 February 2022.
Lola Brittain, ‘Democratise Big Tech: an interview with James Muldoon‘ Tribune. 8 February 2022.
Association for the Design of History, ‘Platform Socialism – a conversation with James Muldoon‘. 3 February 2022.
Nika Mahnič, ‘Book Review: Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Future from Big Tech by James Muldoon‘. LSE Review of Books. 1 February 2022.
Stephen Owen, ‘Envisaging a world where platform tech serves the common good‘. Mutual Interest. 30 January 2022.
Michael Kwets and Tshi Malatji, ‘Platform Socialism: an alternative to Big Tech. An Interview with James Muldoon‘. Tech Empire podcast. 28 January 2022.
Autonomy think tank, ‘James Muldoon, Platform Socialism book launch‘. Autonomy. 25 January 2022.
Rafael Grohmann, ‘Platform socialism: interview with James Muldoon‘. DigiLabour. 17 January 2022.
Tim Christiaens, ‘Review of Platform Socialism‘ Marx and Philosophy Review of Books. 17 January 2022.
The Blockchain Socialist Podcast, Platform Socialism and Web3. 15 January 2022.
Tech Won’t Save Us Podcast, Envisioning Platform Socialism. 13 January 2022.
The Blockchain Socialist, Platform Socialism Book Review: A must read for anyone interested in DAOs. 9 January 2022.
Future Histories Podcast, S02E11 – James Muldoon on Platform Socialism. 9 January 2022.
James Muldoon, ‘Regulating Big Tech is not enough. We need platform socialism’, openDemocracy, 8 December 2021.
- James Muldoon, ‘Plattformsozialismus‘ Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. (German) 11 Nov 20221.
Irina Ivanova, ‘Wall Street not sold on Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of the Meteaverse‘ CBS News. 2 November 2021.
James Muldoon, ‘Facebook is now Meta. And it Wants to Monetize your Whole Existence‘ Jacobin, 28 October 2021.
- James Muldoon, ‘Fetichismo – Ahora Facebook es Meta y vino a monetizar tu vida‘, Correspondencia de Prensa (Spanish) 1 November 2021.
- James Muldoon, ‘Facebook devient Meta et souhaite monétiser toute votre existence‘ Les Crises (French) 28 November 2021.
- James Muldoon, ‘Niemand will ins Metaverse – aber es will Dich‘ Jacobin.de (German) 10 November 2021.
- James Muldoon, ‘Ο Ζούκερμπεργκ θέλει να κερδοσκοπήσει από όλη σας την ύπαρξη‘ , Kordatos (Greek) 29 October 2021.
