Beyond the Myths of Digitalization: Labor, Space and Ecology in the Digital Age

This article stresses the political dimensions embedded in the imaginaries and myths fuelling digital capitalism. Based on an interdisciplinary literature on technological innovation processes, the paper questions the supposed idea of a dematerialised, automated, and sustainable economy that underlies the ‘digital revolution’. Against this background, we suggest that such imaginaries are “myths” offering a partial view of reality and playing a crucial role in affecting the social, economic, and political dynamics of society. Thus, we claim that on one hand digitalization may be an opportunity for SMEs to innovate products and processes in a more socially and environmentally sustainable way, while on the other it is a challenge since it reproduces and reinforces asymmetries. What is necessary, then, is to question the tout court separateness between virtual and material, being aware of the risks related to the infrastructuralisation of platforms and in embracing a view that allow to use digital technologies from the handle and not from the blade.