The Left and Digital Politics: Political Parties from Platform Neoliberalism to Platform Socialism

Are left-wing parties allies or foes of Platform Socialism? The Left and Digital Politics answers this question, through a Gramscian approach to (counter-)hegemony in platform societies and a study of how the ideas and practices of a sample of left-wing parties tap into this political battlefield.

Digital platforms are more than devices, algorithms and websites. They organise societies through the leadership of platform capitalists and their allies in political institutions. We know that this leadership, or hegemony, fosters exploitation and inequalities. We also know that a politics of resistance is emerging among platform workers and communities around the digital commons.

Less known is how the left has been changing to have a say in digital politics. And what do left-wing parties think and do about platform societies? The Left and Digital Politics answers these questions by developing an updated Gramscian critical theory of (counter-)hegemony in platform societies and a comparative analysis of the ideologies and practices of key European left-wing parties.

The book provides a map of left-wing ideas and practices on digital politics, a compass to point out how some left-wing parties perform as barriers or allies of radical change, and an analytical toolkit to open new routes towards platform socialism.