The Solutionist Ethic and the Spirit of Digital Capitalism

Abstract

Why do tech elites believe they are the world’s greatest do-gooders and why does it matter what they say and (claim to) think? In this paper, we use the concept of the spirit of capitalism to shed light on the ways in which normative beliefs inform and justify the business models of tech companies. We first reconstruct, systematize and operationalize the concept of the capitalist spirit. We then argue that solutionist ideas have become central to the (self-)image of today’s tech companies. Solutionism refers to the idea that the use of technologies – by inventive and cunning entrepreneurs – is the royal road to fixing social problems. We use a classification algorithm trained on handcoded documents to empirically trace the relative importance of solutionist vis-`a-vis other normative beliefs in three novel text corpora. We find that solutionist ideas are indeed central to the worldview of tech elites, and that they are also gaining ground in the broader tech milieu, although not yet in the normative discourse of capitalism at large. Finally, we theorize and illustrate the motivating, legitimizing, and orienting role of the capitalist spirit. In doing so, we contribute – conceptually, theoretically, and empirically – to the budding debates on the moral embeddedness of economic action and on thenature and trajectory of digital capitalism.

Paradoxes of mindfulness: The specious promises of a contemporary practice

“…This ideology puts the solution before the problem. It involves the assumption that for every social issue there is a technological solution, ideally embodied by the ‘California mindset’ (Nachtwey & Seidl, 2020). The popularity of mindfulness programs in Silicon Valley thus seems only logical, since they provide a broad repertoire of low-threshold techniques that are easy to integrate into daily life and promise extensive effects.…”

“…Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly' (Gelles, 2021). The simplification of solutions has been discussed in the last decade, above all with regard to technological problem-solving, under the term solutionism (Morozov, 2013;Nachtwey & Seidl, 2020). This ideology puts the solution before the problem.…”

Institutional Perspectives on Digital Transformation

“…2 Scholars can investigate the sites of technological (re-)production impacting the action possibilities of those practicing "digital" culture, that is the users of various technologies (Berente & Seidl, this volume; Jarvis et al, this volume; Schildt, this volume). Consider the role of Silicon Valley in shaping an entrepreneurial culture favoring a venture-capital-driven ultra-growth-at-all-costs model with rapid exits, fostering a belief of technological solutionism and foregrounding ideas of the (male) lone entrepreneur (Eberhart, Barley, & Nelson, 2021;Islam, Pillet, Navazhylava, & Barros, 2021;Kenney & Zysman, 2019;Lam & Seidel, 2020;Nachtwey & Seidl, 2020;cf. Malmström, Johansson, & Wincent, 2017).…”

Changing the World by Changing Forms? How Philanthrocapitalist Organizations Tackle Grand Challenges

“…Recently, Nachtwey & Seidl (2020) synthesized and systematized the more general accounts on solutionism and philanthrocapitalism; there seem to be three main lines of criticism:…”

“…This is reasonable because it is interested in capitalism's ideological foundation, showing that solutionism is used to legitimize (philanthro-)capitalism. While it is appealing to ask whether there is a "new spirit of capitalism" (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2007;Nachtwey & Seidl, 2020), this does not mean that the billionaire's publicly articulated wills could easily be operationalized within their organizations. Consider the classical account of Mintzberg & Waters (1985) on organizational strategies.…”