Crisis and cyberworld: Historical mutations between capitalism and postcapitalism

Abstract

This paper tackles the connection between the social transformations in the cyberworld and the technologies at their service as an attempt to understand the power relations present in the current economic crisis and the emerging third-sector, commons-based social production taking the internet as a privileged batllefield. Building on this, four main topics are explored and discussed: how the spaces of cohabitation and the resources that sustain the social production are built; how the inhabitants of the cyberterritory relate with it so as to gain prominence in its construction; what are the potentialities and vulnerabilities of the cyberworld with a view to social emancipation or control; and the contradictions appearing in the new economic and social forms with respect to the principles of capitalist societies. To conclude, we point to the risks of enclosure and massive appropriation of the social creativity, as well as the prospects of communal benefit of the social wealth present in the most successful experiences of hybrid economy.