Category Power & Control

From surveillance and capitalism to crime and deviance—understand how power operates in society. Discover the hidden mechanisms of social control and resistance.

Is Weber Still Relevant? Rationalisation, Bureaucracy and Algorithmic Power

Weber Contemporary Relevance

Weber wrote about files and offices, not welfare portals, tickets and AI chatbots. Yet his ideas on rationalisation, bureaucracy and legal-rational authority still help make sense of why “the system” feels both neutral and overwhelming. This article introduces Weber for undergraduates and tests his relevance against contemporary forms of algorithmic power.

Is Marx Still Relevant? Marxism, Class and the Gig Economy

Marx and the Gig Economy

Marx wrote about factories and nineteenth-century class conflict, not delivery apps or algorithmic ratings. So how far can his ideas take us today? This article introduces Marx’s core concepts and tests them against platform capitalism and the gig economy, showing what still works, what does not, and where later theorists extend his framework.

Beyond Weber, Marx, and Orwell: The Rise of Digital Neofeudalism

Digital Feudalism

Has the modern world outgrown Weber’s iron cage, Marx’s alienation, and Orwell’s surveillance state—only to enter a new form of control? In an era where tech monopolies act as digital landlords, individuals no longer own but rent, their lives dictated by algorithmic oversight and data extraction. Is this progress, or have we simply traded one system of domination for another?