If the leaders of the current capitalist state are the billionaires of this world, a surveillance capitalist nation is governed by the ‘data-rich’. Whilst there still might remain a functioning government, real political influence is decentralised, given over to those with the best knowledge of the voting public. Surveillance capitalism is a new method of coercion for those companies harvesting the data streams of millions.
So what does all this mean for the historic social class system we inhabit? We are already bearing witness to a growing ‘middle class’, and a widening of the gap between the rich and poor. This striation is all based upon the traditional scales of class; race, gender, economic background etc. However, these previous gauges of social caste will soon become redundant, as the data collectors vocally establish their practice as a vehicle for social change.
Unfortunately, in our near future, it is inevitable that society cannot exist without the vulnerable. So, if the new system of power re