Open access
NEO-LUDDISM AS AN ANALYTICAL CATEGORY. AN ATTEMPT OF CONCEPTUALIZATION
Maciej D. KRYSZCZUK1
In Search of New Approaches and Interpretations
Publication language: Polish
Journal article
Transformations No. 1-2 (96-97) 2018, Publication date: 6 June 2018
Keywords: Neo-luddism, capitalism, progress
Abstract The paper proposes a typology of neo-luddism, examines its relevance for studying contemporary labour relations and catalogues selected empirical manifestations of neo-luddist behaviour and attitudes. It is by necessity interdisciplinary, as the phenomenon touches upon the field of sociology of labour, ideology and philosophy. The presented concept differentiate four types of neo-luddism. Economic neo-luddists (1) act on an anti-libertarian instincts and advocate re-agrarizationor reindustrialisation to prevent unemployment and degradation of the community. They are apologists of primeval groups such as family, nation or religious community, and they postulate reconciling work efficiency with non-economic values and collective life. This attitude is linked in the economic sphere toromantic neo-luddism (2), associated with environmental movements questioning modern mass production, and manifested in fashion for ecology, vegetarianism, and naturalist escapism. The romantic variety does not necessarily have religious connotations. Furthermore, we distinguish (3) spiritual ideological neo-luddism. This trend is dominated by religions, ideological, or quasi-religious movements (e.g. the New Age) characterized by scepticism to mainstream science and technology and, broadly, to materialist epistemology. These movements also contradict the moral foundations of consumption and commodity fetishism and call for the rejection of the Enlightenment dogma of productivity. Pragmatists within this trend propose to complement or replace standard tools of measuring growth with various indicators of human development, thus blurring the traditional concept of progress as intangible and subjective. A separate strand is the so-called anarchic neo-luddism (4), which directly draws inspiration from sabotage tactics used by original French and British luddites. It attacks the state, technology and science (technosphere) with the methods borrowed from its ‘enemy’. Its representatives are off-grid movements, cultural saboteurs, cyberpunk culture, hackers, etc.
E-mail: Maciej.kryszczuk@gmail.com