Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory
Future Histories International
Navigating Complexity: Cybernetics in Social Systems
This chapter explores the evolution of cybernetics from communication systems in the 1940s to its application in understanding living organisms and social structures. It focuses on the work of theorists like Maturana, Varela, and Luhmann, examining the self-referential nature of social systems and their complex interactions with the environment. The discussion highlights the dynamics of influence, dominance, and the implications of economic actions on political processes, particularly through concepts like capital strikes.
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
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