This talk will focus on the relevance of Marx’s theory in contemporary capitalism. First, it will discuss aspects of communication in Marxist theory. Second, the focus will be on how to theorise communication based on Hegel and Marx. Third, the talks will analyse digital labour in contemporary capitalism. Fourth, it will point out the importance of Marxist ideology critique in an increasingly authoritarian form of capitalism. Fifth, the presentation will engage with some causes of the contemporary capitalist crisis from a Marxian critical political economy perspective. Sixth, the conclusion will focus on the question how socialism can today pose a viable alternative to capitalism.

Christian Fuchs is a professor at the University of Westminster, where he is the Director of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies and the Director of the Communication and Media Research Institute. He is co-editor of the journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique (http://www.triple-c.at) and as executive committee member of the European Sociological Assocation (ESA) the conference committee chair of the ESA 2017 conference “(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities” (http://esa13thconference.eu/). His research focuses on contemporary critical and Marxist theory as well as critical digital and media sociology. @fuchschristian http://fuchs.uti.at