China, globalização e imperialismo

crítica ao conceito de capitalismo de vigilância

Abstract

This article aims to systematically and theoretically criticise the concept of “surveillance capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff though the Chinese case. To make a qualitative leap, through Marxism’s globalization and imperialism concepts, the Global South case is also brought into light empirically. It concludes that, although an elaborate contribution to the phenomenon in the West, her approach towards China is inadequate and problematic, as well as empirically and theoretically incoherent with her own work. Through a Marxist evaluation, surveillance capitalism manifests itself as a capitalism ramification from the platforms business model, inseparable from the phenomenon of globalization, not as a new systemic stage of capitalism. Likewise, when the analysis is carried out in relation to the Global South in combination with the Marxist concept of imperialism, we can see monopoly and data extraction is driven by the capitalism centre through its platformed oligopolies while China could not be at the forefront of “surveillance capitalism” because the country does not exhibit neither the characteristics in question nor a high platform penetration in Global South’s digital economy.