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]

## Contents

* 1 Origins and use of the term
* 2 Description
* 2.1 Techno-Feudalism
* 3 Areas of Influence
* 4 Criticisms
* 4.1 From Marxist and Anarchist Perspectives
* 5 In popular culture and literature
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Origins and use of the term

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]

## Description

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.

### Techno-Feudalism

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]

## Areas of Influence

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]

## Criticisms

### From Marxist and Anarchist Perspectives

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]

## In popular culture and literature

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]

## See also

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

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Huggins, Martha K. (2000). "Urban Violence and Police Privatization in Brazil: Blended Invisibility". Social Justice 27 (2). ISSN 1043-1578. http://intranet.ukzn.ac.za/geog/ugrad/level3/hc_sust_cities/readings/8_URBAN VULNERABILITIES/Huggins, M.K. 2000.doc.
2. ↑ Kuttner, Robert; V. Stone, Katherine (April 8, 2020). "The Rise of Neo-Feudalism". https://prospect.org/economy/rise-of-neo-feudalism/.
3. ↑ Sighard Neckel, ‘Refeudalisierung der Ökonomie: Zum Strukturwandel kapitalistischer Wirtschaft ’, MPIfG Working Paper 10/6 (Cologne: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, July 2010), pp. 11-12.
4. ↑ Wallerstein I. Capitalist civilization. -Binghamton (N.Y.), 1992.
Malinovsky P. V. (2001). "Globalisation as a Civilization Shaping Process". Russia and the Modern World (Россия И Современный Мир) (2): 7 (5–30). ISSN 1726-5223. https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9952491.
5. ↑ Shearing, Clifford D.; Stenning, Philip C. (1981). "Modern private security: Its growth and implications". in Tonry, Michael; Morris, Norval. Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research. 3. University of Chicago Press. pp. 193–245. "Huge tracts of property and associated public spaces are controlled and policed by private corporations who, in practice, have powers which rival the power of nation states in terms of defining and maintaining order."
6. ↑ Shearing, Clifford D.; Stenning, Philip C. (June 1983). "Private security: Implications for social control". Social Problems 30 (5): 493–506. doi:10.1525/sp.1983.30.5.03a00020. "As a result, North America is experiencing a 'new feudalism': huge tracts of property and associated public spaces are controlled -­‐ and policed by private corporations. [...] To the extent that control over policing is an essential component of sovereignty [...], the development of modern private security raises the possibility of sovereignty shifting from the state directly to private corporations in both their national and, more significantly, their international guises.".
7. ↑ Shearing, Clifford D.; Stenning, Philip C. (1985). "From the Panopticon to Disney World: The development of discipline". in Doob, Anthony N.; Greenspan, Elaine L.. Perspectives in Criminal Law: Essays in Honour of John Ll. J. Edwards. Canada Law Book. pp. 335–349. "The development of mass private property has given to private corporations a sphere of independence and authority which in practice has been far greater than that enjoyed by individual citizens and which has rivaled that of the state."
8. ↑ Johnston, Les (1999). "Private Policing in Context". European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 7 (2): 175–196. doi:10.1023/A:1008753326991.
9. ↑ Shearing, Clifford (2001). "Punishment and the Changing Face of the Governance". Punishment & Society 3 (2): 203–220. doi:10.1177/1462474501003002001.
10. ↑ Shearing, Clifford D. (1983). "Private Security: Implications for Social Control". Social Problems 30 (5): 493–506. doi:10.1525/sp.1983.30.5.03a00020. ISSN 0037-7791. http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=89492.
11. ↑ Zedner, Lucia (2006). "Policing Before and After the Police: The Historical Antecedents of Contemporary Crime Control". The British Journal of Criminology 46 (1): 78–96. doi:10.1093/bjc/azi043.
12. ↑ Caparini, Marina (2006). "Applying a Security Governance Perspective to the Privatisation of Security". in Bryden, Alan; Caparini, Marina. Private Actors and Security Governance. LIT Verlag. pp. 263–282. ISBN 978-3-8258-9840-3. http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/96894/ichaptersection_singledocument/D52C839B-6A34-48DD-98E1-BE33926FCE17/en/chapter14.pdf.
13. ↑ Loader, Ian (1999). "Consumer Culture and the Commodification of Policing and Security". Sociology 33 (2): 373–392. doi:10.1177/S003803859900022X.
14. ↑ Phillips, Peter (2015-10-20). "Private Military Companies in Service to the Transnational Capitalist Class". https://www.projectcensored.org/private-military-companies-in-service-to-the-transnational-capitalist-class/. ""Hundreds of private military contractors now play an important role in TCC security in the evolving 21st century neo-fascist corporate world. [...] Unless we collectively challenge the empire, we face a world that is evolving into a new dark age of neo-feudal totalitarianism unlike any previously known.""
15. ↑ McFate, Sean (2019-02-16). "Billionaire warlords: Why the future is medieval". https://bigthink.com/videos/billionaire-warlords-why-the-future-is-medieval/. ""So what we're going to see in the future is those who have wealth and political power, who can also hire their own private armies now, become super powers. [...] A world awash in mercenaries is a world with more war and the resurrection of private force is symbolic and emblematic of durable disorder.""
16. ↑ Kotkin, Joel (2020). The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1641771641. https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/the-coming-of-neo-feudalism/. ""This emerging class structure reprises, albeit with far less starvation, the patterns of the Middle Ages, with each class performing distinct social functions [...] there are two ascendant classes: the oligarchs and the clerisy [...] the modern-day equivalent of the medieval aristocracy seems likely to grow [...] we seem to be heading to an era of autocracy, intolerance, stagnation and control—a reversion, in some ways, to a new kind of feudalism.""
17. ↑ Kotkin, Joel (2022-01-01). "Our Neo-Feudal Future". https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/01/our-neo-feudal-future. ""America increasingly resembles “feudalism with better marketing.” [...] The combined wealth of the richest four hundred Americans now exceeds the total wealth of 185 million of their fellow citizens [...] Above all, a movement against neo-feudalism requires a reawakening of the spirit of resistance to authority.""
18. ↑ Kuttner, Robert; Stone, Katherine V.W. (2020-04-08). "The Rise of Neo-Feudalism". The American Prospect. https://prospect.org/2020/04/08/rise-of-neo-feudalism/. ""Private mercenary armies, such as Blackwater (now rebranded as Academi), are hired by the Pentagon so that their “soldiers” will be less accountable for what might otherwise be war crimes. [...] Elites are pursuing something aptly described as a new form of feudalism, in which entire realms of public law, public property, due process, and citizen rights revert to unaccountable control by private business. [...] This is legally sanctioned private jurisprudence—neo-feudalism."".
19. ↑ "How US Big Tech monopolies colonized the world: Welcome to neo-feudalism". 2024-08-19. https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/08/19/us-big-tech-monopolies-neo-feudalism/. ""US Big Tech corporations are like the feudal landlords of medieval Europe. These Silicon Valley monopolies own the digital land that the global economy is built on, and are charging higher and higher rents [...] the US Big Tech monopolies of the 21st century act as corporate feudal lords [...] Their monopolistic control extends well beyond just one country, to almost the entire world [...] economic power equivalent of nations.""
20. ↑ Bluestein, Jonathan (2020). Prosperism: Limited Capital, Boundless Plenty. Amazon KDP. ISBN 979-8614831134. ""...Democracy is everywhere being infringed and over-ruled by aristocracies, plutocracies, oligarchies, dictatorships and even monarchies. Overall, the tendency seems to indicate, that humanity is inclining itself into embracing a new Middle Ages, or what many now call: Neo-Feudalism...One of the things which enables Old Capitalism to deteriorate into a form of Neo-Feudalism, is that the extremely rich could potentially hire and operate their own ‘private armies’. They can have it by either employing their own men, or hiring soldiers of fortune, commonly from contractors. By so doing, alongside amassing great wealth, owning immense swaths of land, being immune to many laws and making their own rules, the extremely rich could if they want, under Old Capitalism, become ‘Neo-Feudal Lords’...""
21. ↑ Bluestein, Jonathan (2021). Exceptional Ideas About Humanity. Amazon KDP. ISBN 979-8537588122. ""...The corrupt thrive only by the power of social consensus. But Monarchy is not everlasting, and this Neo-feudalism too will come to an end...""
22. ↑ Slobodian, Quinn (2025-04-09). "Slobodian: Beyond Neoliberalism, Techno-Feudal Dystopias Riding the Far Right's Wave". https://www.resetdoc.org/story/slobodian-beyond-neoliberalism-techno-feudal-dystopias-riding-far-rights-wave/. ""Are we witnessing the rise of a new world order—one ruled not by governments, but by private armies, tech tycoons, and corporate fiefdoms? [...] What sounds like dystopian fiction may, in fact, reflect the dream of a fringe of anarcho-capitalists, now alarmingly close to real power.""
23. ↑ "Techno-Feudalism is Taking over | by Yanis Varoufakis". 28 June 2021. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/techno-feudalism-replacing-market-capitalism-by-yanis-varoufakis-2021-06.
24. ↑ "Techno-Feudalism is taking over - Yanis Varoufakis". 9 July 2021. https://diem25.org/techno-feudalism-taking-over/.
25. ↑ "Yanis Varoufakis: Capitalism has become 'techno-feudalism'". https://www.aljazeera.com/program/upfront/2021/2/19/yanis-varoufakis-capitalism-has-become-techno.
26. ↑ "Yanis Varoufakis on Alternatives to Techno-Feudal Capitalism". 8 September 2021. https://lithub.com/yanis-varoufakis-on-alternatives-to-techno-feudal-capitalism/.
27. ↑ "Techno Feudalism: What is it and how it increases inequality in the society?". 2 July 2021. https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/explained-what-is-techno-feudalism-and-how-it-causes-inequality-in-the-society-1625207524-1.
28. ↑ "The BigTech-Academia-Parliamentary Complex and Techno-Feudalism". 24 September 2020. https://technologyandsociety.org/the-bigtech-academia-parliamentary-complex-and-techno-feudalism/.
29. ↑ "El pensador Majfud y un anticipo de hace una década sobre el "neofeudalismo"". June 2025. https://www.memo.com.ar/poder/majfud-neofeudalismo.
30. ↑ "Qué democracias nos promete la nueva Guerra Fría"". March 29, 2014. https://www.mdzol.com/mundo/2014/3/29/que-democracias-nos-promete-la-nueva-guerra-fria-917537.html.
31. ↑ Hartmann, Thom (6 November 2002), "Time to Remove the Bananas... and Return Our Republic to Democracy", CommonDreams.org, http://www.commondreams.org/views/2002/11/06/time-remove-bananas-and-return-our-republic-democracy
32. ↑ Baker, Bruce (2004). "Protection from crime: what is on offer for Africans?". Journal of Contemporary African Studies 22 (2): 165–188. doi:10.1080/cjca0258900042000230005. http://www.ssrnetwork.net/uploaded_files/3606.pdf.
33. ↑ Lippert, Randy; O'Connor, Daniel (2006). "Security Intelligence Networks and the Transformation of Contract Private Security". Policing & Society 16 (1): 50–66. doi:10.1080/10439460500399445.
34. ↑ Sighard Neckel, "Refeudalisierung der Ökonomie: Zum Strukturwandel kapitalistischer Wirtschaft ", MPIfG Working Paper 10/6 (Cologne: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, July 2010).
35. ↑ Dean, Jodi (February 9, 2025). "Capital's Grave (excerpt)". https://proteanmag.com/2025/02/09/capitals-grave-by-jodi-dean-excerpt/.
36. ↑ Boll, Eric. "Book Review: Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle by Jodi Dean". Capital & Class (Sage Journals) 49 (3). doi:10.1177/03098168251363388a.
37. ↑ Gane, Nicholas (2025). "Capitalism is capitalism, not technofeudalism". Journal of Classical Sociology (Sage Publications) 25 (4): 353–368. doi:10.1177/1468795X241269293. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X241269293. Retrieved 2026-03-14. "This, then, is not feudalism by any means, but is still a world in which, to use the words of Varoufakis in Another Now, ‘Monetary profit drives capitalism’. Capital is invested in order to produce profit, and capital, as Marx observed ‘essentially produces capital ...’.".
38. ↑ Wainwright, Joel (2025). "The techno-feudalism hypothesis is also wrong on political grounds". Area Development and Policy (Taylor & Francis): 1–5. doi:10.1080/23792949.2025.2557909. https://doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2025.2557909. Retrieved 2026-03-14. "Against those who claim that digital technologies have transformed capitalist society into a new form of techno-feudalism, Saito and Sasaki assert that we remain within a society of a capitalist type. [...] the techno-feudalism hypothesis also fails to provide a compelling description of contemporary politics. It rests upon a metaphor which fails to address the fundamental differences between feudalism and capitalism in terms of political subjectivity.".
39. ↑ Foster, John Bellamy (2025-10-26). ""Techno-Feudalism" Is a Myth: John Bellamy Foster on Capitalism, MAGA, and China". https://mronline.org/2025/10/26/techno-feudalism-is-a-myth-john-bellamy-foster-on-capitalism-maga-and-china/. "The notion of technofudalism I think is a diversion from a critique of capitalism and is not well historically based."
40. ↑ "The Pragmatic-Demolition-Of-Techno-Feudalism". 9 June 2025. https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/06/the-pragmatic-demolition-of-techno-feudalism/.
41. ↑ Nick Hanauer (July 2014). "The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats". Politico Magazine. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
42. ↑ Thor Bjorgolfsson and Andrew Cave. Billions to Bust—and Back: How I Made, Lost, and Rebuilt a Fortune, and What I Learned on the Way. London: Profile, 2014. p. 194.
43. ↑ Hall, Alaric (2018). "Fornaldarsögur and Financial Crisis: Bjarni Bjarnason's Mannorð". The Legendary Legacy: Transmission and Reception of the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda (Humanities Commons): 351–375. doi:10.17613/M6V97ZR22. ISBN 978-87-408-3103-0.
44. ↑ Cf. Boyes, Roger. Meltdown Iceland: Lessons on the World Financial Crisis from a Small Bankrupt Island. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009. p. 61.
45. ↑ Kaufman, Amy S., "Our Future is our Past: Corporate Medievalism in Dystopian Fiction", in Corporate Medievalism II, ed. by Karl Fugelso, Studies in Medievalism, 22 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2013), pp. 11–19.
46. ↑ Erman, Eva; Möller, Niklas (August 2013). "What's Wrong with Politics in the Duniverse?". in Nicholas, Jeffery. Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat. Popular Culture and Philosophy Series. 56. Open Court. p. 66. ISBN 978-0812697278. https://books.google.com/books?id=AmflF2QmEyQC&pg=PA61.
47. ↑ Schwab, Klaus (2020), COVID-19: The Great Reset, ISBN Agentur Schweiz. ISBN 978-2940631124
48. ↑ "Now is the time for a great reset". 3 June 2020. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/now-is-the-time-for-a-great-reset/.
49. ↑ Schwab, Klaus (2017) The Fourth Industrial Revolution ISBN 978-0241300756
50. ↑ Mercola, Joseph (2021), The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing The Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal, Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1645020882
51. ↑ Breggin, Peter R. (2021), COVID-19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey, Lake Edge Press. ISBN 978-0982456064
52. ↑ Kotkin, Joel (2021), The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1641770941

## External links

* 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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