Uncovering Digital Fetishism

Since the 1970 s,contemporary capitalism has realized the digital transformation of capital and human social life with the help of digital information technology,especially Internet technology.The transition from traditional capitalism to digital capitalism,while creating new means of production and production conditions for the production and accumulation of capitalist surplus value,has also formed a more abstract digital fetishism.In the context of rapid changes in social life,re-examining the digital capitalist production methods,specific changes in the production process and the resulting brand new form of fetishism “digital fetishism”,is an important theoretical and practical issue that cannot be avoided at our current stage.Based on this,taking digital fetishism as the core topic,this paper aims to crack the secret of the existence of digital fetishism through the critical investigation of its specific performance,deep connotation and internal mechanism,so as to promote the in-depth study of the new form criticism of digital fetishism in the era of digital capital.Digital fetishism itself is not divorced from the general laws and logic of the capitalist production process and its production relations.It is a new form of fetishism formed with the development of digital capitalism.In the first part of this article,based on the analysis of the historical fission of capital and the actual changes in the mode of production in the era of digital capital,it focuses on the specific manifestations and deep connotations of digital fetishism.As a social phenomenon unique to contemporary capitalism,digital fetishism is not only manifested as people's worship of data,data commodities,and digital capital,but also as the society's worship of digital technologies,especially contemporary smart digital technologies represented by the Internet,big data,and cloud computing,we can call this cult or worship “digital worship”.Digital worship penetrates and infiltrates the subject's value consciousness,and constantly reproduces digital fetishism consciousness in daily life.Further,the consciousness of digital fetishism is deeply integrated into people's life structure,and exerts a secret influence on their value choice and behavior mode,making it a fetishized existence that identifies and accepts the reverse social order of digital capitalism,The social reality of digital fetishism is thus strengthened,which is the embodiment of social effectiveness of digital fetishism consciousness.Digital capitalism provides a realistic basis for the formation of digital fetishism,and the development of the internal mechanism of digital fetishism also creates a favorable environment for the strengthening of the logical rule of digital capital.Digital capitalism induces the masses to be immersed in digital illusions through the use of digital media communication of commodity symbols and cultural and industrial landscapes,causing digital fetishism or concepts to become a form of consciousness that is generally recognized and accepted by the society.On this basis,the digital fetishism mechanism further provides a legal basis for the ideology of digital biopolitics and digital platform imperialism.Here,digital fetishism has been transformed from a false illusion of consciousness into social reality,and it has become the condition and basis for the stable operation of the digital capitalist social order.It is under the multilayered effect of the internal mechanism of digital fetishism that every real subject of life and the global social,political and economic order we live in is truly controlled and shaped by the logic of digital capital,and the rule of the logic of digital capital is thus consolidated and strengthened.The political economy critique of the reversed illusion of the production process of digital capitalism is the fundamental way to break the secret of digital fetishism.Digital capitalism and digital fetishism support each other and complement each other.The production and reproduction process of digital capitalism and its social relationship form inherently require and constantly entail the logic of digital capital to produce suitable and agree with the capitalist social production order based on the development of the fetishism mechanism.Therefore,the criticism of digital fetishism needs to be placed in the production process of digital capitalism to explore,that is,to reveal the social and historical premise of fetishism and the inherent contradictory nature of the digital capitalist production process that it conceals.Therefore,based on the methodology of Marx's critique of political economy,this paper sets out from the four links of the production process of digital capitalism,namely production,distribution,circulation and consumption,it specifically reveals behind the false phenomena of capitalism such as“freedom and autonomy of labor”,“reasonable distribution relations”,“value of circulating production”and “satisfaction of consumption needs”,the social reality of “the extension of the logic of exploitation of unpaid digital labor”,“unequal distribution relations”,“circulation time is an obstacle to the realization of value”,“fetishism needs to replace real needs”,which is covered by digital fetishism.This process is actually a criticism of the premise of the formation of the social and historical roots of digital fetishism..The elimination of digital fetishism and the realization of human liberation are not abstract theories contained in philosophical theories,but a historical process that is constantly advancing in the process of constructing new forms of human civilization.This article believes that Marx's revelation of the inherent contradictions of capital logic is the theoretical prerequisite for the resolution of digital fetishism.The inherent contradictory nature of digital capitalism determines that it will inevitably encounter restrictions in the process of self-proliferation,leading to self-denial.The actual basis for the resolution of digital fetishism lies in the self-denial of capital logic.Corresponding to the historical objective trend of the communist movement,which denies the logic of capital and sublates capital civilization,the original fetishists will be transformed into social people in the activities of survival and practice,and will take on the heavy responsibility of transforming the form of human civilization.Promote the historical generation of new forms of social relations.In the final analysis,to eliminate digital fetishism,on the one hand,it is necessary to understand the irrationality of the capitalist mode of production and the evolutionary trend of its inevitable demise from the historical process of the self-denial of capital logic;on the other hand,it is also necessary to replace the one-sided existence of fetishism with the way of human social existence to inspire people.The sense of commonality between social production and life is finally unified in the process of constructing a new form of human civilization.The new form of human civilization is a historical form of the full realization of man's free personality and the full development of society as a whole after discarding the capitalist stage of “ human independence based on material dependence ”,.Its highest value goal is “ free and all-round development of human beings ”.At this stage,not only will digital fetishism be eliminated,but any abstract rule caused by capitalist mode of production will be completely eliminated,and the opposition,oppression and contradiction between people will be completely transcended,and the universal human liberation will become a reality.