Modern Feudalism

One of the advantages of modern society is the apparent freedom that we all enjoy. We can move freely between states (or provinces, depending on where you live) and relatively freely between countries. We can even move to another country, buy property and permanently immigrate there (following the laws of both countries governing such movements). We can work in whatever profession we prefer and spend our money as we see fit. In many ways we live in a very fortunate time.

In political theory arenas, our current system is called capitalism. The belief that the free flow of capital and labor lead to the best possible allocation of resources. In order to achieve this free flow of labor and capital we allow for private ownership of property. It is, however, important to remember that this was not always the case. The idea of private ownership of property and capital is a relatively new one. Capitalism, our modern system, grew out of the feudal system.

In the dark ages, all land was owned by the liege lord, who ruled through what was believed to be a divine right. The king was the chosen of god, and owned all property. He then divided up his lands among his subordinates, his lords, to rule the various parts of his kingdoms. These lords had vassals, and the vassals ran local towns. The common folk were viewed as being tied to the land they were born in, and worked for their own sustenance and the sustenance of their liege lords. Free flow of labor was not allowed, and the liege lord had absolute power over his particular fiefdom. The people provided labor and goods to the lord, the lord then provided for military and police protections to the citizens.

As society developed, professions did as well. Farming communities began specializing their labor to better use their time. Millers, coopers, black smiths and many other professions developed and improved society. As the professions developed and formed guilds, and these guilds started controlling larger and larger amounts of money. They became a second class that existed between the lords and the farmers. A middle class of professionals who lived in cities and worked for money. As this portion of the economy grew, the traditional lords, who were dependent on the money of the middle class and the population of the lower class to maintain its military and police powers, found themselves subordinate to the middle class. This lead to all sorts of class struggles. The end result was the old feudal system gave way to representative democracy, where the rulers who controlled the military and police powers of the state, were controlled by elected officials beholden to the general public.

The one constant between feudal times and current ones is the means by which the state, or liege lords, collected their due of the fruits of the labors of the general population. This is through taxes. In feudal times, farmers gave part of their crops to the lord and, in war times, they were expected to show up and be armed as part of the levies that defended the kingdom. Once the middle class developed, they paid their lord in the form of a percentage of profits, and rent on the land they were using for their businesses (all lands being owned by their liege lord). In the modern era, we pay our governments a portion of our salaries, property taxes and a variety of other taxes that have been dreamed up over the intervening years. Also, in times of war, people may still be "drafted" into the military to help defend their country and its interests.

So, now that we have gotten the history lesson out of the way, you may be wondering what the point of this article is. My point is to show how little has actually changed in the ensuing years. During the feudal era, the populace was kept in line and tied to the land by the liege lord. In the modern era, we are no longer tied to a particular state, but we are still controlled by whatever state we choose to live in. We may now have a say in government by being allowed to vote on who represents us. But given the cost and complexity of the modern political process, these contests are fought between professional candidates backed by entrenched political parties. We get two, maybe three, choices for any office, all of whom are controlled by their respective political parties. The parties are themselves heavily invested in the system that gives them power, that lets them exert control on the general populace. So while we can steer government to some degree, our actual power to change the system is quite small. More over, our current government still has the ability to call us into serve the military through the general draft. The draft is, after all, not so different from calling in the feudal levies. Worse, the modern government of a first world nation has unprecedented powers in running the lives of its populace. Feudal lords did not run schools or control the curriculum of what was taught to their subjects. The only indoctrination was done by the church, and then only on the sabbath. They couldn't monitor their subjects with a networked system of cameras in feudal times either. The tools by which government exerts control over us now were unheard of and unimagined during the feudal era. The one key difference, and it is a large difference, is that these powers are held in check by our ability to vote public officials out of office. This helps to avoid the worst abuses that such a system could be used for. A power not enjoyed by those who lived in the feudal era. It still does not change the fact that our modern, enlightened. governments exert much greater control over all aspects of our lives than the feudal one did on its subjects.

This is why I call this article modern feudalism. In the modern era we are still viewed by our governments as a mere source of revenue. We are subject to an unprecedented amount of taxes. Our hopes and dreams are only important to our liege lords on election day. Our powers too weak and disparate to enact true change and remove entrenched interests from the reins of power. We may have inalienable rights, but we have many less freedoms now than we did back then. The one key difference is that we have rights now. There are political ramifications for intruding on them. So the worst abuses of the populace of the feudal era (and the sexual liberties that the authorities took with their subjects) are no longer problems. Instead we live in a whole new world of government monitoring and government control of our actions. So the liberties that the government does take, it does so on a much larger scale. This is modern feudalism.

The Problem With Data

In the modern world, where much of all human interaction is stored and recorded in some way on computers, data about every aspect of our lives is available for public consumption in ways that, even a generation ago, we never thought was possible. This creates problems, first for society, and second, for the individual. For society, because there is no consensus on what is the proper use for this data (morally and ethically speaking), and no consensus over what, if any, laws we should enact to govern the use of this data. For the individual, because he or she does not always know, or is aware of, what data is being shared about themselves publicly and what that data is being used for. The end result has been that many people are surprised to learn what advertisers, or even employers, are able to find out about them through data mining.

For a practical discussion of this, let's look at Facebook. Facebook, for those who have spent the last decade in an arctic wilderness devoid of internet accessibility, is a social web site where people create pages about themselves and their lives and share them with their friends. At first this started as just a social networking site. As the company behind it grew, it started adding advertising, games, marketing, and other features to capitalize on its user base. Today Facebook data mines all the posts and pictures people put on it to bombard them with targeted advertising. It is so good that based on benign information you share, it can tell very intimate things about you. For example this article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/.

More alarmingly, employers and health insurance providers have begun buying your purchasing habits from credit card companies and major retailers in order to monitor whether or not you are living a healthy lifestyle. They believe this is a necessary step in keeping medical costs down and keeping people healthy and productive. It also gives them the ability to target wellness programs to benefit both themselves and, presumably, the employees. The counter argument is that this breaks the boundary between one's personal and professional lives and is a violation of an employee's privacy. See this article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-your-company-watching-your-weight-2013-02-25.
But the reality is, based on available information, employers are able to learn a lot more about you than previous generations. There are also some fairly significant legal issues that go along with adopting such policies, and both employers and employees should be wary of trodding on the rights of people protected by various laws (think Americans with Disabilities Act, hostile work place and discrimination suits).

The end result is that we already have to worry about embarrassing Facebook posts or pictures keeping people from getting jobs, employers targeting employees for health counseling based on purchasing habits, or even employers making adverse employment decision about people based on data mining. The future could get even less private with employers monitoring all aspects of employees' lives to help them be more productive employees. If you hate a boss who micromanages your work, how will you feel when he or she micromanages your personal life, purchasing decisions and even dietary choices? The result of unregulated data usage could very well lead to just such a result. How long before employers can monitor your every move through your cell phone? It already logs your position with GPS and tower triangulation, and your activity based on accelerometers and G-meters.

The end result is that, as technology matures and innovations are made, we as a country (or as a world really) need to create clear legal frameworks for the use of this new world of freely available data. If a society decides that the division between public and private, professional and social, are divisions that should be nurtured, it will need to create a regulatory structure that fosters such results. Otherwise, the future of data mining could well lead to a pseudo Orwellian future where big brother and big employers monitor your every move. Until such framework exists, it's a good idea to be as careful as you can be about what data you are sharing.