Knowledge Economies and their Political Construction

This chapter argues that the information and communications technology revolution clearly illustrates the underlying hypotheses of the book: first, that advanced capitalist democracies have been remarkably resilient in the face of major shocks—even given the rise of populism, neither advanced capitalism, nor advanced democracy, nor the autonomy of the advanced nation state, are under attack. Second, that the advanced capitalist democracies face political opposition from groups who feel that they and their children are left out of and excluded from the benefits of the “American Dream” (or equivalent); and can organize (or be organized) politically. Third, apart from small isolated groups—for example, the Occupy movement—effective political opposition is in no way socialist, nor is it concerned to destroy or take over advanced capitalism.