The The Time of Capital: Suspension and Acceleration in the Post-Pandemic World
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic constituted a historically unprecedented phenomenon: never before had more than half the global population been confined while digitally interconnected. Initially appearing as interruptions in the flow of capital, lockdowns became opportunities for functional reintegration, as digital platforms and generative artificial intelligence intensified labor rhythms and accelerated the logic of accumulation. This paper analyzes the dialectical structure of this temporal contradiction, showing how pandemic suspensions were rapidly subsumed by capitalist acceleration, exemplifying capital’s adaptability. Drawing on Karl Marx’s critique of political economy—particularly the concepts of real subsumption, general intellect, collective worker, and commodity fetishism—alongside the philosophies of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno, it distinguishes between pseudo-interruptions internal to capital and genuine ruptures grounded in material resistance.
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