"The Californian Ideology" is a 1995 essay by English media theorists Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron of the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

. Barbrook describes it as a "critique of dotcom neoliberalism".Barbrook 2007
Imaginary Futures: Other Works
In the essay, Barbrook and Cameron argue that the rise of networking technologies in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

in the 1990s was linked to American

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...

and a paradoxical hybridization of beliefs from the political left and right in the form of hopeful

technological determinism Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is b ...

. The original essay was published in ''Mute'' magazineThe Californian Ideology, Barbrook, Cameron, 1995-09, Mute Vol 1 #3 CODE, , Mute, London, http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/californian-ideology in 1995 and later appeared on the '' nettime'' Internet mailing list for debate. A final version was published in ''Science as Culture'' in 1996. The critique has since been revised in several different versions and languages.

Andrew Leonard Andrew Leonard (born 1962) is an American journalist who writes feature articles for ''San Francisco'' and contributes to Medium. From 1995 to 2014 he wrote for '' Salon.com''. He has also written for ''Wired''. Career Leonard is credited with co ...

of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

'' called Barbrook & Cameron's work "one of the most penetrating critiques of

neo-conservative Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and cou ...

digital hypesterism yet published."

Critique

During the 1990s, members of the entrepreneurial class in the

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

industry in

vocally promoted an ideology that combined the ideas of

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

with elements of radical

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...

libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

, and neoliberal economics, using publications like ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' magazine to promulgate their ideas. This ideology mixed

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights ...

and

New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...

beliefs together based on their shared interest in

anti-statism Anti-statism is any approach to social, economic or political philosophy that rejects statism. An anti-statist is one who opposes intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs. In anarchism, this is characterized by a ...

, the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...

, and

techno-utopianism Technological utopianism (often called techno-utopianism or technoutopianism) is any ideology based on the premise that advances in science and technology could and should bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian i ...

. Proponents believed that in a

post-industrial In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to s ...

, post-capitalist, knowledge-based economy, the exploitation of information and knowledge would drive growth and wealth creation while diminishing the older power structures of the state in favor of connected individuals in

virtual communities A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communi ...

. Critics contend that the Californian Ideology has strengthened the power of corporations over the individual and has increased social stratification, and remains distinctly

Americentric Americentrism, also known as American-centrism or US-centrism, is a tendency to assume the culture of the United States is more important than those of other countries or to judge foreign cultures based on American cultural standards. It refers t ...

. Barbrook argues that members of the

digerati The digerati (or digirati) are the elite of digitalization, social media, content marketing, computer industry and online communities. The word is a portmanteau, derived from "digital" and " literati", and reminiscent of the earlier coinage ''gli ...

who adhere to the Californian Ideology, embrace a form of

reactionary modernism Reactionary modernism is a term first coined by Jeffrey Herf in the 1980s, to describe the mixture of "great enthusiasm for modern technology with a rejection of the Enlightenment and the values and institutions of liberal democracy" which was c ...

. According to Barbrook, "American neo-liberalism seems to have successfully achieved the contradictory aims of reactionary modernism: economic progress and social immobility. Because the long-term goal of liberating everyone will never be reached, the short-term rule of the digerati can last forever."Barbrook 1999

Influences

According to Fred Turner, sociologist Thomas Streeter of the University of Vermont notes that the Californian Ideology appeared as part of a pattern of Romantic individualism with

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the auth ...

as a key influence.

Adam Curtis Adam Curtis (born 26 May 1955) is an English documentary filmmaker. Curtis began his career as a conventional documentary producer for the BBC throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The release of '' Pandora's Box'' (1992) marked t ...

connects the origins of the Californian Ideology to the

Objectivist Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievemen ...

philosophy of

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

.Curtis 2011

Reception

While in general agreement with Barbrook & Cameron's central thesis, David Hudson of ''Rewired'' takes issue with their portrayal of ''Wired'' magazine's position as representative of every viewpoint in the industry. "What Barbrook is saying between the lines is that the people with their hands on the reins of power in all of the wired world...are guided by an utterly skewed philosophical construct." Hudson maintains that there is not one, but a multitude of different ideologies at work. Andrew Leonard of ''

'' calls the essay "a lucid lambasting of right-wing libertarian digerati domination of the Internet" and "one of the most penetrating critiques of neo-conservative digital hypesterism yet published." Leonard also notes the "vitriolic" response from

Louis Rossetto Louis Rossetto is an Americans, American writer, editor, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and former editor-in-chief / publisher of ''Wired magazine''. He was also the first investor and the former CEO of TCHO chocolate company. ...

, former editor and publisher of ''Wired'' magazine. Rossetto's rebuttal, also published in ''

Mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

'', criticized it as showing "a profound ignorance of economics". Gary Kamiya, also of ''Salon'', recognized the validity of the main points in the essay, but like Rossetto, Kamiya attacked Barbrook & Cameron's "ludicrous academic-Marxist claim that high-tech libertarianism somehow represents a recrudescence of racism." Architecture historian Kazys Varnelis of Columbia University found that in spite of the privatization advocated by the Californian Ideology, the

economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate o ...

of Silicon Valley and California were "made possible only due to exploitation of the immigrant poor and defense funding...government subsidies for corporations and exploitation of non-citizen poor: a model for future administrations."Varnelis 2009 In the 2011 documentary, ''

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" is a poem by Richard Brautigan first published in his 1967 collection of the same name, his fifth book of poetry. It presents an enthusiastic description of a technological utopia in which machine ...

'', Curtis concludes that the Californian Ideology failed to live up to its claims:

Notes

References

* Barbrook, Richard. Andy Cameron. (1996) 995br>The Californian Ideology
. ''Science as Culture'' 6.1 (1996): 44–72. * Barbrook, Richard. Andy Cameron (1995
Basic Banalities
* * Barbrook, Richard. (2000) 999
Cyber-Communism: How The Americans Are Superseding Capitalism In Cyberspace
. ''Science as Culture''. 9 (1), 5-40. * . * Borsook, Paulina. (2000). ''Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech''. PublicAffairs. . * Curtis, Adam (2011). "Love and Power". ''

''. BBC. * Hudson, David. (June 24, 1996).
The Other Californians
. ''Rewired: Journal of a Strained Net''. * Kamiya, Gary. (January 20, 1997).

. ''Salon.com''. * Leonard, Andrew. (September 10, 1999).
The Cybercommunist Manifesto
. ''Salon.com''. * May, Christopher. (2002). ''The Information Society: A Sceptical View''. Wiley-Blackwell. . * Ouellet, Maxime. (2010). "Cybernetic capitalism and the global information society: From the global panopticon to a 'brand' new world". In Jacqueline Best and Matthew Paterson, ''Cultural Political Economy''. 10. Taylor & Francis. . * Rossetto, Louis. (1996).
19th Century Nostrums are not Solutions to 21st Century Problems
. ''Mute''. 1 (4). * Streeter, Thomas. (1999)

In Andrew Calabrese and Jean-Claude Burgelman, eds., ''Communication, Citizenship, and Social Policy: Re-Thinking the Limits of the Welfare State''. Rowman & Littlefield, 49–64. * Turner, Fred. (2006). ''From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism''. University Of Chicago Press. . * Varnelis, Kazys. (2009).
Complexity and Contradiction in Infrastructure
". Ph.D. Lecture Series. Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

External links

at the Hypermedia Research Centre
The Californian Ideology
revised SaC version {{DEFAULTSORT:Californian Ideology Ideologies California culture Computing culture Technological utopianism Controversies within libertarianism Criticisms of economics 1995 essays Transhumanism