S03E40 - Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory

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:


https://www.uvh.nl/university-of-humanistic-studies/contact/search-employees?person=jimxneoBsHowOfbPivN


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).


https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/anthem-companion-to-niklas-luhmann/niklas-luhmann-and-critical-systems-theory/982BC5427E171D2BA0D14364377A40F5


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”:


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318543419_The_relevance_of_Luhmann%27s_systems_theory_and_of_Laclau_and_Mouffe%27s_discourse_analysis_to_the_elaboration_of_Marx%27s_state_theory


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.


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318524063_The_continuing_ecological_dominance_of_neoliberalism_in_the_crisis


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.


https://files.libcom.org/files/Marcuse,%20H%20-%20One-Dimensional%20Man,%202nd%20edn.%20(Routledge,%202002).pdf


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.


https://www.social-ecology.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Wellek-Library-Lectures-Wendy-Brown-In-the-Ruins-of-Neoliberalism_-The-Rise-of-Antidemocratic-Politics-in-the-West-Columbia-University-Press-2019.pdf


Hendrikse, R. (2018). Neo-illiberalism. Geoforum, 95, 169–172.


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718518302057


on N. Katherine Hayles:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._Katherine_Hayles


Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the Societies of Control.
October. Vol. 59. (Winter 1992), 3-7.


https://cidadeinseguranca.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/deleuze_control.pdf


Brenner, R., Glick, M. (1991). The Regulation Approach. Theory
and History. New Left Review. 1/188.


https://newleftreview.org/issues/i188/articles/robert-brenner-mark-glick-the-regulation-approach-theory-and-history.pdf


on the “Regulation School”:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_school


Chiapello, E., & Boltanski, L. (2018). The New Spirit of
Capitalism. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/1980-the-new-spirit-of-capitalism


Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Harvard University
Press.


https://monoskop.org/images/9/95/Hardt_Michael_Negri_Antonio_Empire.pdf


on the Tierra Artificial Life Program:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierra_(computer_simulation)


on Gilbert Simondon:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Simondon


on Karen Barad:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Barad


on Post-Fordism:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Fordism


on Taylorism:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management


Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Polity.


https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=platform-capitalism--9781509504862


Hayek, F. A. (2014). The Constitution of Liberty. Routledge.


https://ia600805.us.archive.org/35/items/TheConstitutionOfLiberty/The%20Constitution%20of%20Liberty.pdf


van Dyk, S. (2018). Post-Wage Politics and the Rise of Community
Capitalism. Work, Employment and Society, 32(3), 528–545.


https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017018755663


on Rosa Luxemburg:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg


on Luxemburg’s thought on imperialism:


https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/44096/rosa-luxemburgs-heterodox-view-of-the-global-south


Fraser, N. (2022). Cannibal Capitalism. How our System is
Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet and What We Can Do
About It. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/2685-cannibal-capitalism


on Mariarosa Dalla Costa:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariarosa_Dalla_Costa


on the “Wages for Housework” Campaign:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wages_for_Housework


Moore, J. W. (2015). Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and
the Accumulation of Capital. Verso.


https://www.versobooks.com/products/74-capitalism-in-the-web-of-life


on Stafford Beer:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_Beer


Pickering, A. (2010). The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another
Future. University of Chicago Press.


https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo8169881.html


Foucualt’s quote on socialist governmentality is from this book:


Foucault, M. (2008). The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the
Collège de France, 1978-1979. Palgrave Macmillan.


https://1000littlehammers.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/birth_of_biopolitics.pdf


Groos, J. (2025). Planning as an Art of Government. In: J. Groos
& C. Sorg (Eds.). Creative Construction. Democratic Planning
in the 21st Century and Beyond (pp. 115-132). Bristol University
Press.


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


 


Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics


S03E30 | Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and
Left Imaginaries


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e30-matt-huber-kohei-saito-on-growth-progress-and-left-imaginaries/


S03E29 | Nancy Fraser on Alternatives to Capitalism


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e29-nancy-fraser-on-alternatives-to-capitalism/


S03E19 | Wendy Brown on Socialist Governmentality


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e19-wendy-brown-on-socialist-governmentality/


S03E04 | Tim Platenkamp on Republican Socialism, General Planning
and Parametric Control


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e04-tim-platenkamp-on-republican-socialism-general-planning-and-parametric-control/


S03E03 | Planning for Entropy on Sociometabolic Planning


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e03-planning-for-entropy-on-sociometabolic-planning/


S02E31 | Thomas Swann on Anarchist Cybernetics


https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e31-thomas-swann-on-anarchist-cybernetics/


 


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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these
resources might be of help:


Democratic planning – an information website


https://www.democratic-planning.com/


Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic
Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue
1.


https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1


Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction -
Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol
University Press. [for a review copy, please contact:
amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]


https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction


International Network for Democratic Economic Planning


https://www.indep.network/


Democratic Planning Research Platform:


https://www.planningresearch.net/


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Future Histories Contact & Support


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Episode Keywords


#JanOverwijk, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories,
#FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational,
#NiklasLuhmann, #FrankfurtSchool, #CriticalTheory,
#SystemsTheory, #Sociology, #MaxWeber, #Economy, #Capitalism,
#CapitalistState, #Cybernetics, #Rationalization,
#PoliticalEconomy, #DemocraticPlanning,
#DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Governmentality, #Ecology,
#NewMaterialism, #Posthumanism, #CyberneticCapitalism, #Totality