Abstract:
In previous papers, we have conducted a broad review of the economic literature concerning environmental debates (especially the debate on climate change). In general, the several considerations - ranging from the ones built upon neoclassical theory to the ones based on heterodox thinking - tend to converge, with very few exceptions, to the notion of dematerialization; or, to put it clearly, to the hope that technological development will allow for the realization of a supposedly immaterial production. This paper starts from these previous assessments and has the objective of demystifying (that is, deconstructing critically) the notion of dematerialization as a real possibility in the present socioeconomic formation. Along with the very nature of this critique, we simultaneously intend to offer a theoretical argument of our own, rooted in Marx's thinking and capable of explaining why the faith in the dematerialization process tends to be systematically frustrated as long as the production and distribution of social wealth is structured around capital.
Keywords:
technology; dematerialization; Marx