Davydov Dmitriy

№ 3, 2018

• Social Subject of Transition towards Post-Capitalist Society: Who Is It?

  Despite the growing popularity of the idea of post-capitalism and a number of symptoms that indicate that the capitalist economy is gradually transforming into something fundamentally new, the question about the social subject of transition to the post-capitalist society remains unanswered. Different authors assign this role to the working class, to the precariat, or to the “creative class”. D.Davydov’s thorough analysis of these three statements demonstrates their weaknesses, which he explains by the fact that they characterize the future society in the categories of the past. Being convinced that the place in the world of commodity-money relations fails to capture the social essence of the subject of the post-capitalist society, he suggests that a person, or an individual with primary values of creativity and self-realization, rather than a social class or a social group should be interpreted as this subject.

  Although Davydov thinks that a person plays the leading role in the transition to the post-capitalism, he draws attention to its ambiguous nature as a subject of post-capitalist relations. The article shows that the “society of persons” is not free from novel forms of alienation and inequality. The development of the productive forces, including automation and robotization, will narrow the space for self-realization, which can lead to the situation when the majority of the population will be in the position of “superfluous men”, deprived of any life prospects.

  DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2018-90-3-140-157

  Pages: 140-157