Transmissions Ep. 18: Technofeudalism versus Total Capitalism (w/ Alex Hochuli)

Class Unity

In this episode, we’re joined by writer and political analyst Alex Hochuli to discuss his recent essay in American Affairs, “Technofeudalism Versus Total Capitalism.” The conversation explores the rising popularity of the “technofeudalist” thesis — associated with thinkers like Yanis Varoufakis, Cédric Durand, and Jodi Dean — and the claim that capitalism is undergoing a structural mutation into a new mode marked by digital rent extraction, platform dominance, and fragmented sovereignty.

We ask:

– What is technofeudalism, really?

– Has rent overtaken profit as capitalism’s core mechanism?

– Are Big Tech and asset managers forming a new feudal elite?

– What does this mean for politics, ideology, and the future of the left?

– And are we just caught in another cycle of declaring new “ages” without structural transformation?

Hochuli argues that what many read as a feudal regression is better understood as a deepening of capitalist modernity itself — marked by desocialization, the hollowing out of collective institutions, and the rise of algorithmic governance. The conversation also addresses the limits of post-ideological strategies, the political role of the state, and the importance of resisting the moralization of industrial capitalism.

Hochuli is a writer and political analyst based in São Paulo. He is co-host of the @BungaCast podcast (Aufhebunga Bunga), a leading platform for critical discussion on global politics, post-liberalism, and ideological drift in the post-Cold War era. His work has appeared in American Affairs, Compact, UnHerd, Damage, and other venues. He is co-author of The End of the End of History (Zero Books, 2021), a critique of political stagnation in the neoliberal era and the rise of populist disruption.

Links:

Follow Hochuli on Twitter/X: @Alex__1789

Explore the podcast: @BungaCast / www.bungacast.com

The End of the End of History – Available from Zero Books

Hochuli, “Technofeudalism Versus Total Capitalism” (American Affairs, Summer 2025)