S03E40 - Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory
Description
Jan Overwijk discusses critical systems theory, sociologies of closure and openness, and cybernetic capitalism.
Shownotes
Jan Overwijk at the Frankfurt University Institute for Social Research:
https://www.ifs.uni-frankfurt.de/personendetails/jan-overwijk.html
Jan at the University of Humanistic Studies Utrecht:
Overwijk, J. (2025). Cybernetic Capitalism. A Critical Theory of the Incommunicable. Fordham University Press.
https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531508937/cybernetic-capitalism/
on the website of the distributor outside of North America you can order the book with a 30% discount with the code “FFF24”:
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781531508937/cybernetic-capitalism/
on Niklas Luhmann:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann
Baraldi, C., Corsi, G., & Esposito, E. (2021). Unlocking Luhmann. A Keyword Introduction to Systems Theory. transcript.
https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-5674-9/unlocking-luhmann/
Fischer-Lescano, A. (2011). Critical Systems Theory. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 38(1), 3–23.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0191453711421600
Möller, K., & Siri, J. (2023). Niklas Luhmann and Critical Systems Theory. In: R. Rogowski (Ed.), The Anthem Companion to Niklas Luhmann (pp. 141–154).
on Critical Theory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory
on Cybernetics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics
Future Histories explanation video on cybernetics (in German):
https://youtu.be/QBKC9mM8-so?si=64v0OgBKV3xjXvLl
on Humberto Matuarana:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Maturana
on Francisco Varela:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Varela
Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1992). Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Shambhala.
https://uranos.ch/research/references/Maturana1988/maturana-h-1987-tree-of-knowledge-bkmrk.pdf
on Ferdinand de Saussure:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure
on Post-Structuralism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism
on the differentiation of society into subsystems:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differentiation_(sociology)
on Jaques Derrida:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida
Bob Jessop on Luhmann and the concept of “ecological dominance”:
Jessop, B. (2010). From Hegemony to Crisis? The Continuing Ecological Dominance of Neoliberalism. In: K. Birch & V. Mykhnenko (Eds.). Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism: The Collapse of an Economic Order? (pp. 171–187). Zed Books.
on Surplus Value in Marx and Marxism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value
on Louis Althusser:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Althusser
Althusser, L. (2014). On the Reproduction of Capitalism: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Verso.
https://legalform.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/althusser-on-the-reproduction-of-capitalism.pdf
on Stuart Hall:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)
on Capital Strikes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_strike
on the concept of “rationalization” in sociology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_(sociology)
on Max Weber:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber
Weber, M. (2005). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Routledge.
https://gpde.direito.ufmg.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MAX-WEBER.pdf
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.
https://profilebooks.com/work/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/
on Surveillance Capitalism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism
on Herbert Marcuse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse
Marcuse, H. (2002). One-Dimensional Man. Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Routledge.
on Jürgen Habermas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas
on Jean-François Lyotard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Lyotard
Lyotard, J.-F. (1988). The Differend. Phrases in Dispute. University of Minnesota Press.
https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816616114/differend/
on Thermodynamics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics
on the Technocracy Movement:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity.
https://giuseppecapograssi.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bauman-liquid-modernity.pdf
on New Materialism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_materialism
on Gilles Deleuze:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze
on Bruno Latour:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Latour
on Donna Haraway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Haraway
for criticisms of new materialism and associated tendencies and authors:
Malm, A. (2018). The Progress of this Storm. Nature and Society in a Warming World. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/574-the-progress-of-this-storm
Brown, W. (2019). In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West. Columbia University Press.
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