An introduction to cognitive capitalism

This chapter outlines some elements of a research program organized around the thesis of cognitive capitalism, a project that insists upon rereading the historical development of the capital–labour relation from the point of view of the knowledge economy. Since the Fordist crisis, capitalism has entered a period of major transformation that has affected the modalities of valorisation, the forms of property and the division of labour. The chapter describes a method of analysis in terms of cognitive capitalism by insisting on the critique of conventional theories of both the economics of knowledge and the knowledge-based economy. It explains the methodological choice in favour of an approach that combines theory, history, and transformations of social relations and shares a central concern with the initial research program of French Regulation School. The chapter provides an historical perspective for the crisis of industrial capitalism and the transition towards cognitive capitalism.