Alternatives to Capitalism: Explaining Peter Frase’s Rentism

Sunday 26 February 19:48

Peter Frase at Sonic Acts 2017. Photo by Pieter Kers
by Carly Sheridan Imagine a world where intellectual property is the most valuable form of currency, a place where software, blueprints and algorithms flood the black market. Copyright infringers are the new outlaws and underemployment is the status quo. This is rentism, a concept explored in Peter Frase’s Four Futures, his recent book based on the idea that it is not a question of whether or not capitalism will end but rather when and what will replace it. His book presents an exaggerated version of different realities we are already living in, inserting speculation into social science. Rentism is one possible future, which Frase differentiates from traditional capitalism, writing that “it is based on the extraction of rents rather than the accumulation of capital through commodity production”. Physical property laws imply a straightforward exchange of one thing for something else. When it comes to intellectual property however, it is the rights-holders who dictate how others may use it. When intellectual property rules, it is those who control the information, copyright and patents who control the economy; they become the ruling class, the elite. “The fundamental dilemma of rentism is the problem of effective demand: that is, how to ensure that people are able to earn enough money to be able to pay the licensing fees on which private profit depends,” writes Frase. By this he means that class boundaries would be redrawn based on who owns licenses and who rents permissions. If everyone can copy and distribute at will, the lower class becomes the “rentier class” i.e. those who pay more in licensing fees than profits earned. Like any other economic system, rentism has its challenges, perfectly illustrated by the relentless failing of the music industry to adapt to a digital world and remain profitable in a sharing economy. There is a juxtaposition that is born when artificial and digital scarcity are necessary to retain value while the availability of 3D printing technology and automation become rampant. While a “creative class” would be needed to generate new ideas and designs, Frase argues that maintaining employment would be a constant struggle. Marketers and advertisers would thrive as the popularity and longevity of designs would surpass any real benefits or functionality. An “army of lawyers” would also be necessary, as copyright infringement would become the largest trend in litigation. In such a future, policing structures and guards focused entirely on intellectual property surveillance would also be in high demand. But Frase resists pessimism in his four futures and insists this can be seen as hopeful, not just dystopian. “All of these trends exist but none of these are really our future, they are all our present,” he says. “Through the power of mass action, I do still believe it’s possible to exasperate positive features and suppress negative features of our current environment.”

This site uses cookies.