{"product_id":"platform-socialism-james-muldoon-9780745346953","title":"Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim Our Digital Future from Big Tech","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"The book stretches our horizons and provokes aspirations within us for another possible world.\"--\u003ci\u003eSocialist Worker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Whoever controls the platforms, controls the future. \u003ci\u003ePlatform Socialism\u003c\/i\u003e sets out an alternative vision and concrete proposals for a digital economy that expands our freedom. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Powerful tech companies now own the digital infrastructure of twenty-first century social life. Masquerading as global community builders, these companies have developed sophisticated new techniques for extracting wealth from their users. James Muldoon shows how grassroots communities and transnational social movements can take back control from Big Tech. He reframes the technology debate and proposes a host of new ideas, from the local to the international, for how we can reclaim the emancipatory possibilities of digital platforms. His chapters include: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e*All the World's a Platform \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Monetizing Community \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Community-washing Big Tech \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Private Power and Public Infrastructure \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Guild Socialism for the Digital Economy \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Building Civic Platforms \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Global Digital Services \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*Recoding our Digital Future \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Muldoon's book is a call to action. In his Introduction, he writes, \"We need to confront the threat Big Tech currently poses to our freedom and democracy. While some of the methods are new, we shouldn't allow the technology to obscure the fact that the basic structure is all too familiar. Platform companies set the rules of the game and benefit from the wealth we create. As individual users of the platform we have little power to affect how it is organized....Reclaiming our sense of collective self-determination requires a new kind of platform economy. How do we image an alternative that is neither private oligarchy or unaccountable state bureaucracy, an alternative outside the rule of Big Tech or Big State. The answer lies in new forms of participatory and decentralized governance which place human freedom over profits.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing on sources from forgotten histories to contemporary prototypes, he proposes an alternative system and charts a roadmap for how we can get there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Muldoon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0745346952\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780745346953\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Pluto Press (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/20\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.30w x 0.60d","brand":"James Muldoon","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43993884983551,"sku":"9780745346953","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8ad2a57d-1289-4755-bb61-c1654fff45dc.jpg?v=1683326863","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/platform-socialism-james-muldoon-9780745346953","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}