ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the historical context of technocapitalism and of its globalization, along with the ideological framework and politico-economic circumstances that influenced its emergence and worldwide reach. The globalization of technocapitalism is grounded in the expansion of corporate power and its deep-seated domination over technology and science. It is a domination that is spawning new economic sectors and activities which promise to be hallmarks of the twenty-first century, but that nonetheless continue the long historical evolution of capitalism. To further neoliberalism's 'free' trade objective a worldwide body, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created in 1995, to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the mechanism that had long been used to reduce trade barriers. The first feature involves experimentalism's need to systematize research on a global scale, to serve the boundless corporate quest for profit and power. This means that research must be pursued continuously for the sake of corporate profit and power.