July 6, 2021

Is Silicon Valley upending Democracy? w/Carles Boix

Beginning in the 1970s, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs commercialized a set of information and communication technologies that revolutionized almost all aspects of our lives. Personal computers, the internet, and smartphones created new industries such as digital platforms and cloud computing that continue to power advanced economies. Might the forces unleashed by these technologies undermine the post War World II political order and social contract?

In the latest episode of the UW Political Economy Forum podcast, Nicolas Wittstock  hosts Professor Carles Boix (Princeton University), who addresses this question. They discuss Boix’s new book, “Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads – Technological Change and the Future of Politics”. There, he shows that, while heavy industries staffed by semi-skilled workers anchored the West’s post-war welfare states, it is well-educated workers who now complement the equipment, machinery, software, and other forms of intangible capital associated with Silicon Valley technologies. After World War II, the earlier political-economic model fostered consensus, compromise, and democratic deepening. So whither are we bound? Tune in to find out.