The Scientific and Technical Revolution in the Context of Capitalism: Estrangement vs Social Progress

Abstract

Intensive development of science and technology in the XIX–XXI centuries occurs in accordance with the economic interests of the key actors of the globalizing capitalist system, the inherent feature of which is continuous expansion in order to ensure a sufficient rate of return on invested capital. At the present stage of development, capitalism as a system has practically exhausted the possibilities for further extensive development, which predetermines the transition to an intensive type of management. The scientific and technological revolution at the present stage leads to the creation of tools for the intensive development of the capitalist system through the formation of centers of accumulation of “big data”, the processing of which determines the distribution relations in the system. This raises the question of whether the modern course of the scientific and technological revolution corresponds to social progress in the context of the transformation of the capitalist mode of production. In this article, based on the methodology of classical political economy, world-system approach, global-formational approach, an attempt is made to answer the question and study the role of the main subjects of modern technological progress in the development of relations of estrangement of man from work, nature, society and himself. The article argues that the progressive progress in the development of society as a result of the scientific and technological revolution is possible when changing the mode of production and shifting the purpose of the economic system from maximizing profits to the implementation of harmonized personal and public interests.