Introduction
Capitalism triumphed not through ethical superiority, but through a brutal functionality in generating wealth and scalability. In "Capitalism, Alone," Branko Milanović announces a world unified under the dictates of a single system, where no real competitor remains. This success, however, comes at a price: the market is no longer just a mechanism for exchange, but has become a monopoly on the human imagination, colonizing spheres of life previously free from economic calculation. This article explores how the process of commodification transforms our relationships, time, and decisions into mere commodities.
Capitalism: A Monopoly on the Political Imagination
This system reshapes our identity, replacing the pursuit of a "good life" with the model of a "well-priced life." The colonization of intimacy: the market enters the domestic sphere through the outsourcing of care, cooking, and cleaning. In liberal meritocratic capitalism, every hour of domestic work is treated as an opportunity cost, leading to the reification of human bonds.
The Hour Portfolio: The Commodification of Leisure
An individual's time is sliced into segments and reformatted into an hour portfolio that must be constantly optimized. Even leisure time is immediately colonized by the digital attention industry.
The Second Unbundling: Production Detaches from Place
The information revolution has enabled the separation of the "brain" (strategy) from the "muscle" (production), which Milanović calls the second unbundling. Within this architecture, Homoploutia emerges: a new elite blocking social mobility by combining high labor income with capital gains, creating a closed caste with a monopoly on social norms.
Migration: The Erosion of Welfare State Foundations
Global income disparities make migration a primary corrective mechanism; however, this challenges the homogeneity of norms necessary for social welfare systems. The response is either welfare nationalism or the provocative Light Citizenship: a utopia in the fight against inequality—a model that differentiates migrant rights to keep markets open while limiting access to benefits.
AI: The Algorithmic Commodification of Attention and Decisions
Artificial intelligence introduces commodification into the realm of decision-making—choice becomes a service provided by an algorithm. These models vary geographically: the USA, the EU, and the Gulf present competing approaches—from corporate dominance in the US and the regulatory AI Act in the EU to state-led modernism based on the kafala system in Arab countries.
The Productivity Paradox: Digitalization Slows Efficiency
Despite the adoption of AI, organizations are noting a productivity paradox: employees feel greater pressure and burden, but real efficiency does not increase proportionally, as technology primarily serves to intensify every minute of data flow.
Logical Fallacies: Why Modern Economics Fails
Mainstream economics mistakenly assumes that efficiency (P) automatically guarantees resilience (R) and justice (Q). In reality, a system that maximizes commodification externalizes social costs, undermining its own foundations. An anachronistic left loses ground by trying to fight this model with tools from the last century, ignoring the anthropological mutation of capitalism.
The Economy of Impermanence: Elżbieta Mączyńska’s Diagnosis
Elżbieta Mączyńska points to the syndrome of the economy of impermanence, where short-term profit displaces stability. Corporate boards: responsibility for social destabilization is crucial here—atomization destroys trust, the invisible capital necessary for the survival of the market itself.
De-commodification: Limits of Resistance to the Total Market
Capitalism that knows no bounds becomes a cannibal of its own existence. De-commodification is the necessity of defining spheres free from price: time for loved ones, care for the vulnerable, and autonomy of decision. Boards must understand that AI cannot serve only to cut costs, but must protect human potential. Can we find the courage to set boundaries for what should never have a price? Or will we witness the triumph of efficiency over human dignity, condemned to live in a world where everything is for sale?
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