S03E40 - Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory

Future Histories

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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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