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by village-idiot
2750 days ago
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I maintain that we’ve been sliding very rapidly from a capitalistic society to a neo-feudal one. Rising inequality and companies increasingly interested in rent extraction over competition are the big giveaways. The one thing I’m struggling to figure out is the vassal structure. Actual feudalism had all parties binding themselves to the next step up the chain in exchange for power and protection. Serfs are bound to minor lords who respond to greater lords who answer to the king. The closest structure I can identify is corporate hierarchies, but those are far too fluid compared to feudal nobility. |
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I think it has been that way all over history. People start pretty equal, then some people get to the top because of merit, these people then shape the systems to solidify their rule so they stay in power independently of merit. At some point the people had enough of it, dethrone their overlords (often kill them) and the cycle starts new. Unfortunately this can take hundreds of years to finish.
In the past the feudalists often came from the warrior or religious groups, now it's business people, but the cycle is still the same.
"The closest structure I can identify is corporate hierarchies, but those are far too fluid compared to feudal nobility."
Feudal nobility also was fluid to some degree. There were always some peasants that somehow made it to the top because they were very smart.