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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the direction of economic changes affecting the Polish economy after the political transformation of the early 1990s.

First, the author defines the phenomenon of cognitive capitalism. Subsequently, the social and psychological consequences of this form of management and its ideological character are presented. Finally, the effects of the application of cognitive capitalism to the Polish reality are considered and the desirable adjustments of the Polish capitalism are suggested.

According to the theses of the paper: the negative effects of the Polish economic transformation are largely the result of an uncritical acceptance of the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism, and the fight against the high social costs of the functioning of market economy calls for an adjustment of the Polish economy, which would bring it closer to the Scandinavian model of capitalism.

The paper shows the process of economic transformation in Poland from the perspective of the changes taking place in the bosom of the western capitalism, in particular of the Anglo-Saxon type.

The author of the paper suggests a number of possible adjustments to the Polish model of capitalism, in particular calling for the introduction of elements of planning and state intervention into the model, the revival of municipal and cooperative ownership, as well as the introduction of corporatist practices.

The author of the paper criticizes the thesis of the inevitability of the radically liberal transformation of the Polish economy, widely accepted in the literature. Moreover, he sees the relationship between the Polish free-market changes and the processes of “cognitivization” of western capitalism.

The hypothesis is that social inequalities tend to increase in the historical phases characterized by a high level of integration of the international economy, generating protectionism-oriented pressures. The analysis of the capitalistic evolution in the last centuries is oriented to outline the strict connection between deep international economy integration and high level of social inequalities in advanced economies.

Recent deep integration in international economy generated, in advanced economies, a significant increase in socio-economic inequalities, with negative effects on social cohesion and democratic dynamics. The paper, examining the historical evolution of capitalism, analyses the consequences generated by the deep integration, achieved by the international economy, on social inequalities in advanced countries. The discussion is focussed on three models of capitalism: competitive capitalism, Fordist capitalism and cognitive capitalism.

As a result, for governments, two alternatives open up in the hyper-globalization phases: to preserve deep international economic integration, with risks for democracy; to preserve internal social cohesion, with risks of protectionism and closure to the international economy.

The article is oriented to underline the intrinsic incompatibility between hyper-globalization and democracy, for the strong negative effects generated by hyper-globalization on social inequalities and on social cohesion.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the affective premises and economics of the influence of search engines on knowing and informing in the contemporary society.

A conceptual discussion of the affective premises and framings of the capitalist economics of knowing is presented.

The main proposition of this text is that the exploitation of affects is entwined in the competing market and emancipatory discourses and counter-discourses both as intentional interventions, and perhaps even more significantly, as unintentional influences that shape the ways of knowing in the peripheries of the regime that shape cultural constellations of their own. Affective capitalism bounds and frames our ways of knowing in ways that are difficult to anticipate and read even from the context of the regime itself.

In the relatively extensive discussion on the role of affects in the contemporary capitalism, influence of affects on knowing and their relation to search engine use has received little explicit attention so far.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of paternalism as a long-term component of a management control system (MCS) in a multi-national business enterprise.

The authors used a historical methodology involving the collection and evaluation of both primary and secondary data. Annual reports of Michelin (2009–2021) were also analysed to trace the evolution of the MCS towards corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This research traces the evolution of Michelin's Paternalistic MCS from “Traditional Paternalism” to “Welfare Paternalism”, “Managerial Paternalism” and “Libertarian Paternalism” thereby leading the way to CSR. The findings indicate that the evolution of the MCS revealed “Managerial Paternalism” as a specific type of paternalism and an important component of the “Personnel and Cultural Controls” (Merchant and Van der Stede, 2018, p. 95) at Michelin.

Many multi-national companies began as family-owned and controlled firms (e.g. Ford, Toyota, Fiat, Renault, Tata) and they often employed paternalistic MCSs during their early development (Newby, 1977; Perrot, 1979; Colli, 2003). Such MCSs have been seen as being anachronistic and are often abandoned as the family-owned enterprise grows into a multi-national company (Casson and Cox, 1993; McKinlay et al., 2010). The research challenges this assertion and demonstrates how aspects of a paternalistic MCS can survive in a multi-national business enterprise.

With respect to practical implications, this research shows that paternalism can still be a component of an MCS in a multi-national enterprise.

Using a historical approach, this research addresses a gap in the prior literature regarding the variations and persistence of paternalism in companies. In the case of Michelin, the authors investigate the evolution of its paternalistic MCS from a traditional form to an emphasis on CSR.

In this chapter, educational philosopher Michael Peters discusses the emergence of new movements in thought and educational research practice in an “epoch of digital reason” that encompass the posthuman and decentered intimate scholarship. Peters describes changes that have occurred at the juncture of philosophy, culture, and science, probing the notion of a “coming after” of postmodernism in a post-truth era that has seen a rise in reactionary, anti-intellectual, anti-immigrant reaction across the Western world. Peters provides insight regarding this collection of changes in thinking, to which the decentering of subjectivity is critical, and even, as he suggests, one of the foundations of modern philosophy after Descartes. This shift in thinking across disciplines entails a turn to systems and ecological thinking; an understanding of consciousness as situated, distributed, and enacted; and a view of the world as constituted by productive difference. Other changes include connecting affect and cultural dimensions to research, which is expanding our view of science and what shapes science. Peters notes that these shifts turn us to new questions about rethinking concepts that are grounded in the liberal, intentional notion of the subject, such as agency and responsibility for one’s actions. As we engage in this rethinking, Peters suggests that we learn from indigenous studies, as indigenous peoples have been putting to work different forms of posthumanism for millennia.

In 2014, the city of São Paulo began to implement the public policy “WiFi Livre SP.” This policy created the infrastructure for a WiFi network providing unrestricted internet connectivity in a 120 public squares, distributed in 5 geographical regions of the city (center, south, north, east, and west). In order to monitor the effectiveness of this public policy, a series of surveys were administered to users. The survey ascertained their views about the quality and frequency of the signal in the public squares.

To carry out analysis of this service a survey was used. The researchers camped out in the squares and flagged people down asking whether they could participate in the survey. Data was collected between August and October 2015, using an application for tablets developed by the research team.

The data showed that the networks functioned effectively and provided good service to the users. Another positive factor is the good signal evaluation in the public squares, since it was an initial concern of the project makers. Further, access to these networks made it possible for residents to use several platforms to communicate in an intensive fashion.

The findings show that a connectivity policy should be geared toward promoting the right of all citizens to access the internet regardless of their ability to pay. Free and full access without any sacrifices of privacy should be guiding principles in policy implementation.

The paper argues that the classical Marxist theory of capitalist accumulation is inadequate to understand new forms of capitalism and their accumulation processes determined by “platforms” and “big data”. Big data platforms are shaping the processes of production, labour, the price of products and market conditions. “Digital platforms” and “big data” have become an integral part of the processes of production, distribution and exchange relations. These twin pillars are central to the capitalist accumulation processes. The article argues that the classical Marxist theory of capitalist accumulation is inadequate to understand new forms of capitalism and their accumulation processes determined by “platforms” and “big data”.

As a conceptual paper, this paper follows critical methodological lineages and traditions based on non-linear historical narratives around the conceptualisation, construction and transition of the “Marxist theory of capital accumulation” in the age of platform economy. This paper follows a discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2003) to locate the way in which an artificial intelligence (AI)-led platform economy helps identify and conceptualise new forms of capitalist accumulation. It engages with Jørgensen and Phillips' (2002) contextual and empirical discursive traditions to undertake a qualitative comparative analysis by exploring a broad range of complex factors with case studies and examples from leading firms within the platform economy. Finally, it adopts two steps of “Theory Synthesis and Theory Adaptation” as outlined by Jaakkola (2020) to synthesise, adopt and expand the Marxist theory of capital accumulation under platform capitalism.

This article identifies new trends and forms of data driven capitalist accumulation processes within the platform capitalism. The findings suggest that an AI led platform economy creates new forms of capitalist accumulation. The article helps to develop theoretical understanding and conceptual frameworks to understand and explain these new forms of capital accumulation.

This study builds upon the limited theorisation on the AI and new capitalist accumulation processes. This article identifies new trends and forms of data driven capitalist accumulation processes within platform capitalism. The article helps to understand digital and platform capitalisms in the lens of digital labour and expands the theory of capitalist accumulation and its new forms in the age of datafication. While critiquing the Marxist theory of capitalist accumulation, the article offers alternative approaches for the future.