Digital Commons Network^™

Minding Machines: A Note On Alienation, Sascha Engel

Fast Capitalism

This paper discusses an underrepresented dimension of contemporary alienation: that of machines, and particularly of computing machines. The term 'machine' is understood here in the broadest sense, spanning anything from agricultural harvesters to cars and planes. Likewise, 'computing machine' is understood broadly, from homeostatic machines, such as thermostats, to algorithmic universal machines, such as smartphones. I suggest that a form of alienation manifests in the functionalist use and description of machines in general; that is, in descriptions of machines as mere tools or testaments to human ingenuity. Such descriptions ignore the real and often capricious existence of machines as everyday …

The Solace Of The Sojourn: Towards A Praxis-Oriented Phenomenological Methodology And Ethics Of Deep Travel In Martin Heidegger's Sojourns

Fast Capitalism

This article focuses on Martin Heidegger's little read travel journal, Sojourns (1962), and explores how it yields surprisingly fruitful insights into our contemporary era of neoliberal globalization via its implicit exploration of the complex interconnections between travel, phenomenology, and ethics. Specifically, I posit that Sojourns contains an implicit praxis-oriented phenomenological methodology and ethics of global travel that together gesture towards a coherent practice of "deep travel," which American literature scholar Cinzia Schiavini aptly defines as "a vertical movement in a closed space which starts from the surface of the land and goes backward in time, searching for the hidden social …

Bound To Capitalism: The Pursuit Of Profit And Pleasure In Digital Pornography, Jennifer Miller

Fast Capitalism

This paper explores digital pornography dialectically through a case study of Kink.com, an online BDSM subscription service. It considers the tension between discourses of authenticity that seek to obscure profit motive and shifts in content prompted by market considerations.

Author Biography

Jennifer Miller, University of Texas at Arlington

Jennifer Miller is an interdisciplinary scholar and cultural theorist who researches children's picture books. She has published in the Journal of Homosexuality, the edited collection Heroes, Heroines, and Everything in Between, and is currently working on a book length project under contract with the University Press of Mississippi.

The Twilight Of Automation, Mario Khreiche

Fast Capitalism

The future of work has come under renewed scrutiny amidst growing concerns about automation threatening widespread joblessness and precarity. While some researchers rush to declare new machine ages and industrial revolutions, others proceed with business as usual, suggesting that specialized job training and prudent reform will sufficiently equip workers for future employment. Among the points of contention are the scope and rate whereby human labor will be replaced by machines. Inflated predictions in this regard not only entice certified technologists and neoclassical economists, but also increasingly sway leftist commentators who echo the experts' cases for ramping up the proliferation of …

Divining Domination: Steve Bannon As A Political Mystagogue, Tony Allen Feldmann

Fast Capitalism

Right-wing commentators (on tv, radio, newspapers, documentaries, or the internet) are often considered a source of misinformation and radicalization in American politics. Understanding the role of such commentators in the political sphere has taken on new significance since the election of Trump, who regularly takes talking points as well as political advice from prominent figures in right-wing media. The purpose of these political "shock jocks" also extends beyond mere political commentary: They offer their audience a framework for understanding the world. This framework contains certain reified perceptions of society and history. Durkheim and those working in his tradition have long …

Shakespeare's Plays Of Deranged Authority: The King's Three Bodies, Daniel Krier

Fast Capitalism

Shakespeare's plays are situated upon the threshold of two worlds: a declining traditional order torn apart by political rivalry and ascendant early-modern capitalism. The history plays dramatize infighting among warring factions of privileged aristocrats as well as revolutionary forces propelled by the rising commons and the politics of commodity. Legitimate authority is rarely secure among the kings perched upon Shakespearean thrones. In Shakespeare's Henriad and King John, crowns are contested from the moment they are placed upon royal heads, inspiring Kantorwicz's political theology: the corporeal body of short-lived kings is distinct from the sovereign's sublime body that reigns without cease. …

The Sorrows Of Modern Subjectivity: Capital, Infinity Disease, And Werther's Hysterical Neurois, Christopher Altamura

Fast Capitalism

In this article I analyze Werther, the protagonist of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. I argue that Werther and his sorrows must be understood within the context of the unique configuration of alienation(s) present in modern societies, characterized by the sui generis combination of capital, egoism and anomie, and asceticism. Further, I argue the sociologically alienating conditions of modern societies create neurotic subjects of repression who lack compensatory symbols of moral worth, which drives them to pursue equivalent signification via fantasy. Finally, I argue that Werther represents an extreme case of hysterical neurosis emanating from …

The Master's Race: Phallic Whiteness In "The Young Savages", Graham Cassano

Fast Capitalism

This essay examines two parallel, historically contemporaneous, depictions of the Freudian master-slave dialectic. John Frankenheimer's first film, The Young Savages (1961), reconstructs Hank Bell's (Burt Lancaster) repressed transformation from Italian racial other into a white ethnic. In doing so, the film approaches the possibility that race itself may be a kind of social construction. To get at this notion, the film explores the meaning of race in an overtly psychoanalytic language. In fact, The Young Savages echoes the argument of Jacques Lacan's nearly contemporaneous essay, "The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious." Lacan's …

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves, Mark P. Worrell

Fast Capitalism

Introduction to the Symposium: "Cultural Reflections of Capital."

Author Biography

Mark P. Worrell, SUNY Cortland Professor, Retired

Breath Back, Bronte Alston

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Breath Back is a collection of poems written throughout the first 18 months of a doctoral study based in the petro-state of Western Australia. As a Wadjela (non-Indigenous) climate justice activist-researcher, Alston adopts poetic autoethnography as an embodied, intuitive praxis to critically and reflexively examine limitations, positionality, power, privilege, and voice throughout their research process. This collection is deeply intertwined with Alston’s deepening connection to Country, specifically through the seasonal cycles of Wardandi Noongar Boodja (Country) in south-west Western Australia.

The Correlation Between Spiritual Tourism And Mental Health Of Young People In Binh Duong, Vietnam, Anh Nguyen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

While researchers are in agreement about the positive relationship between spiritual activities (SAs) and mental health (MH) among the general population, the relationship between spiritual tourism (ST) and MH, particularly among young adults, is yet to be adequately investigated. As such, this research was conducted to determine the contribution of ST towards the MH of the younger generation. The respondents are undergraduate students located in Vietnam’s industrial province of Binh Duong. The findings, from the quantitative research approach, indicate that young people perceive ST mainly as a means for visiting places of worship, with little consideration for the MH benefits …

2026, Aca Camp Research Forum Book Of Abstracts, American Camp Association

ACA National Camp Research Forum Abstracts

This book includes 20 abstracts that will be presented at the 2026 American Camp Association (ACA) Research Forum to be held during the ACA annual conference from February 17-20, 2026, in San Diego, California. Abstracts have been grouped into similar areas and will be presented across five verbal sessions (i.e., camper outcomes, specialty programming, camp staffing, camp administration, and medical/health for youth and families) and one poster session.

A Qualitative Examination Of The Motivations For Homeschooling Among Black Americans, Portia J. Witt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the motivations and lived experiences of African American homeschooling families. Twelve Black parents from multiple states participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’ (1994) Modified Stevick–Colaizzi–Keen method and coded thematically using NVivo. Nine themes emerged: autonomy, holistic education, community belonging, online networks, public resources, curriculum gaps, personal values, effective learning, and legacy of harm. While racialization in schools—including tracking, microaggressions, and misidentification—contributed to participants’ decisions, motivations also reflected intersectional factors such as faith, disability, mental health needs, giftedness, and a desire for cultural protection and flexible learning. Findings suggest homeschooling serves as a …

Assessing Abuse And Neglect In U.S. Nursing Homes: A Comparative Analysis Across Pre-, During, And Post-Pandemic Periods, Katherine Gane

Theses and Dissertations

Nursing homes are among the most closely regulated providers in the U.S. healthcare system, with both federal and state agencies working together to monitor care and help protect residents. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, introduced unprecedented challenges for facilities and survey agencies alike, disrupting normal operations, limiting in-person visits, and temporarily shifting regulatory priorities. The purpose of this study was to examine how these pandemic-related disruptions were reflected in the severity and reporting patterns of substantiated abuse and neglect deficiencies in U.S. nursing homes. Using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this study analyzed 39,607 …

Uk And The 'Razor-Wire Humanitarianism': The Refugee Crisis And The Aesthetic Of Violence, Yasmin Ibrahim

Fast Capitalism

When the 'refugee crisis' in Calais became an issue of renewed concern in the summer of discontent in 2015, UK's reticent stance towards the crisis was captured through its measured approach. A notable riposte from the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, was to send in yet more security fencing to fortify the borders in Calais to assuage the disaffect from the truckers and the public. Dubbing this as UK's 'razor wire humanitarianism', the paper examines how the material artefact of the razor wire is implicated in the aesthetic of violence towards the refugee and migrant bodies in the camps of …

The Politics Of Curiosity, Eva-Maria Swidler

Fast Capitalism

Curiosity, a simultaneously intellectual and emotional phenomenon, is surprisingly unstudied, yet pivotal for social critics and activists to understand. While recognizing curiosity as frequently positive and necessary for creating new solidarities and political movements, it also considers the social and political roots and consequences of incuriosity, apathy, and ignorance, including such topics as willful apathy as cultural resistance and self-defense, ignorance as an ethical choice, incuriosity as arrogance, and the generalized anxiety of neoliberal society and the shrinking of curiosity.

Author Biography

Eva-Maria Swidler, Curtis Institute of Music

Eva Swidler is an environmental historian and political economist with additional interest …

Was Karl Marx An Ecosocialist?, Carl Boggs

Fast Capitalism

Author Biography

Carl Boggs, National University

Carl Boggs is the author of many books in the fields of critical social theory, American politics, U.S. foreign policy and military history, film studies, and ecology. After receiving his Ph.D. at U.C., Berkeley he taught at Washington University in St. Louis, Carleton University in Ottawa, UCLA, USC, and U.C., Irvine. He is currently professor of social sciences at National University in Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to the magazine CounterPunch, is a member of the executive board of the Global Studies Association, and is involved with such journals as Theory …

Panic Learning Off (And On) The Covid Campus, Tara Brabazon, Jamie Quinton, Narelle Hunter

Fast Capitalism

Online learning has been flooded with platitudes, promises and possibilities for twenty years. Oversold and undertheorized, online learning reached its "moment' through the Covid lockdown. Underprepared staff and underfunded universities implemented online learning in a crisis. This was a zombie apocalypse of a context in which to summon innovation. This article activates Paul Virilio's University of Disaster to explore the COVID campus and classroom, entering panic learning.

Author Biographies

Tara Brabazon, Dean of Graduate Research / Professor of Cultural Studies Flinders University

Tara Brabazon is the dean of graduate research and professor of cultural studies at Flinders University, Australia, fellow …

Contemptable Safety: Coronavirus, Neoliberalism, And The Moral Value Of Universities, Mark K. Ryan

Fast Capitalism

Author Biography

Mary K. Ryan, Washington & Jefferson College

Mary K. Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of the Public Policy Program at Washington & Jefferson College. Mary received her Ph.D. in Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought from Virginia Tech. Mary's research on race, inequality, social justice, and democracy includes chapters in Poverty in American Popular Culture (McFarland); Protecting Whiteness: Whitelash and the Rejection of Racial Equality (University of Washington Press); Critical Insights: Civil Rights Literature Past and Present (Salem); Surveillance, Race, Culture (Palgrave Macmillan); and Spaces of Surveillance (Palgrave Macmillan) as well as journal …

The Pandemic Preferred User, Katie Ellis, Kai-Ti Kao, Tim Pitman

Fast Capitalism

As COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, universities acted quickly to move their core business of teaching and research online. Classes shifted to platforms such as Zoom, Webex, Collaborate and Microsoft Teams and teachers and students alike were expected to adapt. And they did. While there has been much discussion of the unpaid labour involved in making this shift and the difficulties inherent in merging work, study and domestic life, there has been little acknowledgement or analysis of inherent notions of the preferred user in this rapid shift to technology.

This paper draws on critical disability studies to offer a conceptual …

Donald J. Trump And The Politics Of Democratic Dysfunction, Cary Fraser

Fast Capitalism

The United States has entered a profound crisis of governance and governability following the impeachment of Donald Trump by the House of Representatives and, after a parody of a Senate trial, was acquitted - to remain in office by the Senate controlled by a Republican majority. This essay seeks to analyze both the origins and context of the contemporary conundrum where one of the world's oldest representative systems of government has entered a phase of democratic dysfunction. Donald Trump is an elected President – on the basis of a minority of the popular vote cast in 2016 – who has …

Reactionary Technopolitics: A Critical Sociohistorical Review, Sean Doody

Fast Capitalism

This paper outlines a critical social history of reactionary media, political, and information networks ”what I refer to generally as technopolitics” in the United States and their significance to the hostility towards truth and fact that is a central feature of our political present. I begin with a critical review of the unique right-wing media and political ecosystem that emerged from the alliance between neoliberalism and social conservatism in the twentieth-century. In the second section, I focus on digitization, Trump, and the alt-right, and discuss the historical tethers connecting the latter to the cyber-libertarians and white supremacists operating on the …

The Carnival King Of Capital, Charles Thorpe

Fast Capitalism

This paper argues that President Donald Trump may be understood as ruling through carnival. The theatrical reversal of conventional standards and rules, his carnivalesque incivility, is key to his political persona. It performs his claim to be an outsider, attacking and subverting the Washington DC establishment. But Trump's carnivalesque performance, far from undermining the dominant order, reflects it. What Trump represents is carnivalized capital, a financialized and globalized form of capital that has broken free of the social and legal restraints of the nation state. The carnivalesque chaos of Trump's presidency reflects the chaos of financialized capitalism.

Author Biography

Charles …

The Art Of The Deal, The Arts Of Democracy: Trump, Dewey, And Democracy, Nancy Sue Love

Fast Capitalism

Donald Trump's politics has been variously described as "neoliberal," "nationalist," "authoritarian," "populist," and even "fascist," and all these descriptors are appropriate in some respects. In this article, I explore the linkages between Trump, neoliberalism, and fascism through what may seem an unlikely aspect of his politics, that is, his artistry as a candidate and now the president. In elevating deal-making to an art form, Trump is not unique. Fascist leaders have long fancied themselves as artists and regarded politics as an art form. I argue that Trump's "art of the deal" materializes and normalizes the aesthetics of neoliberal capitalism; it …

Latisha King: Queer Confusion, Aggression, And Correction, Hannah Bollin

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

Latisha King was a 15-year-old biracial and transgender student at E.O. Green Junior High who was shot and killed by one of her peers on February 12, 2008. Latisha’s untimely death was followed by a court case during which she was blamed for her own murder due to her gender identity and sexual orientation. Through a thematic analysis of scholarly work alongside public media sources surrounding the case, this study argues that the transphobia that Latisha faced in her classroom was continued in the courtroom and media. More specifically, this article argues that the classroom, murder trial, and public media …

Macau Noir: Criminal Brotherhoods, Casino Capitalism, And The Case Of The Post-Socialist Chinese Consumer, Tim Simpson

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Saviano, Garrone, Gomorrah: Neorealism And Noir In The Land Of The Camorra, Fabrizio Cilento

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Facebook Killed The Reunion Star: How Facebook Is Changing Who We Are And What We Do, Sara Ridenour

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

A Contribution To The Critique Of The Political Economy Of Google, Christian Fuchs

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

A Notion Of Faces Not Laws: Facebook As Ideological Platform, Matthew Levy

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.