An Exploration of the New Form of “Virtual Community” under the Background of Digital Capitalism

Abstract

Digital capitalism has reconstructed production relations through data monopoly, algorithmic hegemony and labor concealment, giving rise to three alienated forms: “virtual digital community”, “virtual social community” and “virtual cognitive community”. These new forms continue the illusory nature of “universal appearance concealing the dominance of special interests”, making technology a tool for capital exploitation to a certain extent. The path to transcendence lies in reconstructing digital production relations: breaking data monopoly to promote the public ownership of factors, regulating algorithmic hegemony to establish a democratic governance system, and ultimately relying on the advantages of the socialist system - eradicating the basis of exploitation with public ownership of the means of production, reshaping technological ethics with “people’s subjectivity”, and realizing the dialectical unity of the individual and the community. Socialism with Chinese characteristics transforms data resources into public products through institutional design, enables digital technology to serve the all-round development of people, and provides a practical paradigm for building a “community of free people”.