Economic sociologist Oliver Nachtwey of the University of Basel, Switzerland, together with his associate Timo Seidl from the University of Vienna, Austria, wanted to find out how prominent this concept is today. From the West Coast to the East Coast.
With the help of a machine-learning algorithm, the researchers examined the speeches and book contributions of individuals like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk– i.e., the West Coast tech elites. They likewise took a look at posts from Wired, the magazine popular among tech designers and developers. The 3rd source Nachtwey and Seidl analyzed was articles from the East Coast magazine Harvard Business Review, which tends to be found out more by United States supervisors instead of Silicon Valley types.
Nachtwey explains the choice of textual sources in this method: “We presumed that tech entrepreneurs like Zuckerberg would utilize solutionist arguments. But we wanted to know whether the ideology extends beyond the special circle of Silicon Valley elites.”
For the research study, multiple individuals very first categorized individually selected text excerpts with a concentrate on the justifications listed in the various paragraphs for financial activity: world improvement, flexibility, efficiency, etc. Next, an algorithm determined the percentage of the numerous justifications in more than 1.7 million excerpts.
Solutionism is widespread
For the tech elites on the US West Coast, solutionism was indeed revealed as the most significant entrepreneurial point of recommendation. Do-gooder fever has evidently not yet reached all corners of the US economy.
He summarizes the research study as follows: “We were the first to demonstrate on a broad basis of data that a new pressure of idea is emerging in todays digital commercialism that supplies a central justification for entrepreneurial activity. And this strain is extremely influenced by solutionism.”.
Not real do-gooders.
Since it undervalues democratic procedures, Nachtwey considers this brand-new capitalist spirit troublesome. The big “male of action” Musk, for instance, has no appreciation for employee defenses or democratic guideline. The outcome is that Tesla factories in Germany have far more occupational mishaps than similar Audi factories.
Nachtwey also criticizes Meta, formerly called Facebook: it claims to bring the world together, but allows phony news to proliferate. “Solutionism doesnt combat real issues at all; its simply an empty ideological shell,” he concludes. Nachtwey comprehends his study as a critique of the American tech giants self-portrayals, “which we should concern with a lot of suspicion.”.
Referral: “The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism” by Oliver Nachtwey and Timo Seidl, 23 October 2023, Theory, Culture & & Society.DOI: 10.1177/ 02632764231196829.
New research evaluated texts from Silicon Valley to understand the influence of digital industrialism today. Nachtwey critiques this ideology, arguing that it overlooks democratic processes and often stops working to deal with real issues, exemplified by the practices of companies like Tesla and Meta.
How considerably do the ideas of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk shape todays digital economy? A research study by an economic sociologist at the University of Basel has examined speeches, book contributions and short articles from Silicon Valley from Silicon Valley, showing the emergence of a brand-new spirit of digital commercialism.
What justification is there for making a great deal of money? Nineteenth-century Calvinists interpreted economic prosperity as an indication that a person was counted among Gods chosen. This manner of thinking, focused in Geneva, influenced liberal commercialism.
Todays justifications for economic activity sound different. In specific digital capitalists claim that they improve the world.
Nachtwey critiques this ideology, arguing that it overlooks democratic procedures and frequently stops working to deal with genuine problems, exemplified by the practices of business like Tesla and Meta. Economic sociologist Oliver Nachtwey of the University of Basel, Switzerland, together with his associate Timo Seidl from the University of Vienna, Austria, wanted to find out how prominent this idea is today. Nachtwey considers this brand-new capitalist spirit problematic since it undervalues democratic procedures. Nachtwey also criticizes Meta, previously known as Facebook: it claims to bring the world together, however allows phony news to proliferate. Nachtwey understands his research study as a critique of the American tech giants self-portrayals, “which we should relate to with an excellent offer of uncertainty.”.
