Search

Digital Capitalism and Its Contradictions: Capital Accumulation, Labor Exploitation, and Alienation

Author(s)

Mengdi Wang*, Wenzhe Hao

Affiliation(s)

Department of History, Fudan University, Shanghai, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

This article examines how digital technologies are reshaping capital accumulation, labor exploitation, and human alienation under contemporary capitalism. It argues that digitalization expands the domains of valorization by commodifying knowledge, experience, attention, and data, while accelerating capital turnover through the compression of time and space. Data-driven forecasting and customized production further improve the coordination of supply and demand, reduce inventory risks, and enhance the efficiency of accumulation. These gains, however, are accompanied by intensified forms of domination. Platform users perform unpaid activities that generate traffic and facilitate the redistribution of surplus value, while algorithmic management, automation, and digitally mediated competition extend working hours, increase labor intensity, and blur the boundary between work and everyday life. Digital technology therefore functions not merely as a productive force but also as an infrastructure of control that deepens workers’ dependence and alienation. Yet capital does not exercise sovereign command over technological development. As digitalization advances, the tension between private appropriation and increasingly socialized production becomes more pronounced. The article concludes that technology-enhanced accumulation does not resolve capitalism’s structural contradictions; instead, it amplifies them and thereby exposes the historical limits of the capitalist mode of production.

Keywords

Digital Labor; Capital Valorization; Exploitation; Alienation; Contemporary Capitalism

References

[1] June Wang and Julia Tomassetti, “Labor-Capital Relations on Digital Platforms: Organization, Algorithmic Discipline and the Social Factory Again,” Sociology Compass, 2024, 18(3): 4. [2] Michel Wedel and P. K. Kannan, “Marketing Analytics for Data-Rich Environments,” Journal of Marketing 2016, 80(6): 97–121. [3] Matthew A. Waller and Stanley E. Fawcett, “Data Science, Predictive Analytics, and Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform Supply Chain Design and Management,” Journal of Business Logistics 2013, 34(2): 77–84. [4] Alex J. Wood, Mark Graham, Vili Lehdonvirta, and Isis Hjorth, “Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy,” Work, Employment and Society 2019, 33(1): 56–75. [5] Katherine C. Kellogg, Melissa A. Valentine, and Angèle Christin, “Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control,” Academy of Management Annals 2020, 14(1): 366–410. [6] Christian Fuchs and Sebastian Sevignani, “What Is Digital Labour? What Is Digital Work? What’s Their Difference? And Why Do These Questions Matter for Understanding Social Media?” tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique 2013, 11(2): 237–93. [7] César Bolaño and Fabrício Zanghelini, “Data Economy: A Discussion on Value, Fictitious Valorisation, and National Sovereignty,” Big Data & Society 2025, 12(4): 4. [8] Ursula Huws. Labor in the Global Digital Economy: The Cybertariat Comes of Age. Monthly Review Press, 2014, 161. [9] Julieta Haidar and Maarten Keune, eds., Work and Labour Relations in Global Platform Capitalism. Edward Elgar Publishing and International Labour Organization, 2021. [10] Farveh Farivar et al., “Constant Connectivity and Boundary Management Behaviors: The Role of Human Agency,” The International Journal of Human Resource Management 2024, 35(7): 1273–76. [11] Mirela Ivanova et al., “Alienation in the Algorithmic Labour of Search Engine Optimisation Specialists,” New Technology, Work and Employment 2025, 40(3): 635–45. [12] Kellogg, Valentine, and Christin, “Algorithms at Work,” 383. [13] David Harvey, Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. Oxford University Press, 2014. [14] Wolfgang Drobetz, Sadok El Ghoul, Omrane Guedhami, and Xinya Yu, “Beyond Ownership: The Role of Institutional Investors in International Corporate Governance,” Corporate Governance: An International Review 2025, 33(5): 1024. [15] Aldo Musacchio, Sergio G. Lazzarini, and Ruth V. Aguilera, “New Varieties of State Capitalism: Strategic and Governance Implications,” Academy of Management Perspectives 2015, 29(1): 115.