In her article, Jodi Dean formulates the hypothesis that we are witnesses to a regressive transformation of the capitalistic historical formation into something new, which can be tentatively called neo-feudalism. Capitalism is no longer valorizing itself, that is, reproducing its social conditions and fostering certain new conditions; it is becoming less oriented toward the organization of labor and more inclined to coercion and direct domination. A reflexivization of capitalism is taking place in its attitudes toward supremacy, and the latter is becoming more explicit. Dean indicates the four main tendencies of neo-feudalization: parcellation (fragmentation but reinforcement) of sovereignty; a new quasi-class hierarchy (an exponential increase in inequality); geographic polarization between megalopolises and the provinces or hinterlands (not only along the postcolonial North-South axis, but between hub cities and small cities within the developed countries); and increasing insecurity and apocalyptic fantasies (from which citizens shield themselves with drugs). This quartet of tendencies strikingly resembles the central features of the European Middle Ages, but this time they are taking quite different social and technological forms. Communicative capitalism makes citizens entirely dependent on the platforms where they are not merely free workers but also passive providers of data. If Dean’s hypothesis is correct, then such palliative means of struggle against inequality as democracy and free elections will not work any longer. The author for-mulates the alternative between communism and feudalism and claims that, in a neo-feudal situation, the struggle for communism would by familiar stages become easier as oppression and the prerequisites for communism become more evident.
End-to-End Training of Object Class Detectors for Mean Average Precision
