Neo-feudalism

Neo-feudalism or new feudalism is a theorized contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy, and public life, reminiscent of those which were present in many feudal societies. Such aspects include, but are not limited to: Unequal rights and legal protections for common people and for nobility,^[1] dominance of societies by a small and powerful elite, a lack of social mobility, and relations of lordship and serfdom between the elite and the people, where the former are rich and the latter poor.^[2]

The term 'neo-feudalism' has been popular since the early 2020s. In its early popular use, this term was deployed as a criticism of both the political Left and the Right^{[citation needed]}. However, the roots of the term are older than when it became popular in the common vernacular and academia.

Jürgen Habermas already used the term Refeudalisierung ("refeudalisation") in his 1962 The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere to criticise the privatisation of the forms of communication that he believed had produced an Enlightenment-era public sphere. Habermas did not use the term neo-feudalism, but later commentators have noted that his ideas were similar.^[3] Correspondingly, in 1992 Immanuel Wallerstein expressed views on global development, listing neo-feudalism among three other variants. By neo-feudalism, Wallerstein referred to autarky regions with a localised hierarchy and hi-tech goods available only for the elite.^[4]

Clifford Shearing (often collaborating with Philip Stenning) introduced and developed the concept of neo-feudalism (or “new feudalism”) in criminology and policing studies starting in the early 1980s ^[5][6][7]. At the time, his definition of the term 'neo-feudalism', was not yet as expansive as used by many people today.

According to Les Johnston, Clifford Shearing's theoretical approach of neo-feudalism has been influential.^[8] Shearing "use[s] this term in a limited sense to draw attention to the emergence of domains of mass private property that are 'gated' in a variety of ways".^[9][10]. Lucia Zedner responds that this use of neo-feudalism is too limited in scope; Shearing's comparison does not draw parallels with earlier governance explicitly enough. Zedner prefers more definitive endorsements.^[11]

Neo-feudalism is the idea that Capitalism is potentially evolving, or has evolved, into a modern socio-economic system that bears similarities to the feudal social orders of ancient times, yet with unique modern features. That is, a socio-economic system which in some respects resembles the societal models of Medieval Western Europe. Different scholars, authors and politicians, have proposed varied viewpoints on this topic and term.

Marina Caparini has argued, that the widening of the wealth gap, as poor and marginalized people are excluded from the state's provision of security, can result in neo-feudalism. She claims that this has already happened in South Africa.^[12] Neo-feudalism is made possible by the commodification of policing, and signifies the end of shared citizenship, says Ian Loader.^[13] A primary characteristic of neo-feudalism is that individuals' public lives are increasingly governed by business corporations, as Martha K. Huggins finds.^[1]

Authors such as Peter Phillips ^[14], Sean McFate ^[15], Joel Kotkin^[16][17], Robert Kuttner & Katherine V.W. Stone ^[18], Ben Norton ^[19], Jonathan Bluestein^[20][21] and Quinn Slobodian ^[22], have written extensively about this topic. In their view, neo-feudalism is a feature of social power: economic, political and martial alike. They define the neo-feudal sovereigns as those who, while not directly referred to as lords, aristocrats, kings or emperors, still hold an equivalent power in a modern sense. That is, people who are not subject to everyday laws, can create their own laws to an extent, dominate large markets, employ immense swathes of individuals, have the means to hold a private military force, wield the economic might equivalent of entire nations, and own assets, especially real-estate, on a massive scale. Those authors both criticizes this phenomenon, and sometimes propose social and economic solutions for it.

This is a subset of the term neo-feudalism, first popularized by Yanis Varoufakis in a series of lectures, interviews and writings, during the course of the years 2020-2021. Varoufakis posits that traditional capitalism has evolved into a new feudal-like structure of economies and societies, which he refers to as 'techno-feudalism'. Varoufakis explains that unlike in capitalism, feudal economies have the quality of being dominated by very small groups of people, and predetermine the behaviour of markets as they see fit. Taking the example of massive online enterprises such as Facebook, Amazon and others, Varoufakis noted that such venues are primarily governed by the whims of single individuals and small teams, and thus are not truly capitalist markets of free trade, but rather feudal markets of stringent control.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} Others, such as Jeremy Pitt, have raised similar opinions and concerns, also noting that techno-feudalism threatens freedom of information over the Internet.^[28]. Similar concepts had been used by Uruguayan American Professor Jorge Majfud since 2010.^[29][30]

The concept of neo-feudalism may focus on economics, though it is not limited to it. Among the issues claimed to be associated with the idea of neo-feudalism in contemporary society, are: class stratification, globalization, neoconservative foreign policy, multinational corporations, and "neo-corporatism".^[31]

Bruce Baker has written that Neo-feudalism entails an order defined by commercial interests and administered in large areas. Yet he claims that this does not fully describe the extent of cooperation between state and non-state policing.^[32] The significance of the comparison to feudalism, for Randy Lippert and Daniel O'Connor, is that corporations have power similar to states' governance powers.^[33] Similarly, Sighard Neckel has argued that the rise of financial-market-based capitalism in the later twentieth century has represented a 'refeudalisation' of the economy.^[34]

Professor Jodi Dean has written about Neo-Feudalism as 'a more dangerous form of Capitalism', based on her analysis of Marx, and the ideas of Yanis Varoufakis and others. She has used Neo-Feudalism to redefine the 'Marxist struggle' of modern times, explaining how it ought to lead to a different kind of a social revolution.^[35][36]

Certain Anarchist-Marxist theorists and economists, and others, have criticized the term 'Techno-Feudalism' (one proposed form of Neo-Feudalism), as being inaccurate and misleading. Their core argument is that Techno-Feudalism is not different in its essential mechanics and philosophy from traditional Capitalism. ^{[37][38][39][40]}

After the 2008 financial crisis, American technology billionaire Nick Hanauer stated that "our country [i.e. the United States] is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society".^[41] His views were echoed by, amongst others, the Icelandic billionaire Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson.^[42] The idea that the early 21st century boom and 2008 Icelandic financial crisis saw the country returning to feudal structures of power was also expressed by a range of Icelandic novelists, among them Sigrún Davíðsdóttir in Samhengi hlutanna, Bjarni Bjarnason in Mannorð, Bjarni Harðarson in Sigurðar saga fóts, Böðvar Guðmundsson in Töfrahöllin, and Steinar Bragi in Hálendið: Skáldsaga.^[43][44]

Similar ideas are found in some Anglophone fiction.^[45] For example, Frank Herbert's Dune series of novels is set in the distant future with a neo-feudalistic galactic empire known as the Imperium. In these novels, after a series of wars known as the Butlerian Jihad, humanity has come to prohibit all kinds of "thinking machine technology", even its simpler forms.^[46] Subsequently, the political balance of power in the Dune Universe gradually became dominated by a myriad of royal houses, each dominating one or several planets. Albeit operating in the distant future, the social and political dynamics of said royal houses are similar in many respects to those previously seen in medieval times.^{[citation needed]}

In David Brin's near-future science fiction novel Existence, American politicians campaign on legally transitioning the United States into a neo-feudalist society.^{[citation needed]}

In the year 2020, head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab published a book titled COVID-19: The Great Reset.^[47] The book argues that the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for politicians and governments to change the world's economies, societies and structures of government, by introducing a system of "Stakeholder Capitalism", doing so via the guidelines of a plan known as 'The Great Reset'.^[48] Schwab also refers to his goals as "The Fourth Industrial Revolution".^[49] Other authors have criticized The Great Reset as being a form of Neo-Feudalism.^[50][51][52]

• Anarcho-capitalism
• Ascribed status
• Dark Enlightenment
• Neo-medievalism
• Neotribalism
• Organic crisis
• Songbun
• Jim Crow economy
• Bullshit Jobs ("managerial feudalism")

• Mutation of Medieval Feudalism Into Modern Corporate Capitalism: The Rise of Neofeudalism in Corporate Governance
• Неофеодализм в истории и футурологии
• Capitalism Is Changing, but Not Into “Neofeudalism”. Jacobin. May 21, 2025.

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