Counterculture and the political economy of communication

Abstract

This paper criticizes a dichotomy that settles many debates on free speech and political-cultural strategy: the assertion of the need for “more speech” because its only alternative is censorship. I propose that behind this argument lies the intuition that to counter domination one must have the guarantee of an “exit” option. One reason for the success of this intuition in the fields of free speech and culture is that technological improvement in communication during the last decades supports a presumption of superabundance that invites us to ignore the political economy of the public sphere (as if there is always room for “more speech”). I conclude noting why counter-hegemonic or counter-cultural projects should be careful not to uncritically reproduce this perspective.