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:
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).
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”:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
S03E29 | 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
S03E03 | 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
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
