Notes for reflection on the communication, information technologies, and development today within a post-capitalist horizon

Abstract

The primary objective of this essay is to retake some significant milestones within the field of communication research that address issues of development, information technologies, and social change, considering their capacity to generate alternative projects and public policies within a post-capitalist perspective horizon and for social justice. The approach adopted in this study follows Walter Benjamin’s idea, to comb through the history of this field of knowledge by "brush against the grain", thereby illuminating perspectives that have been overlooked by the canonical history, the history of the victors. In this regard, several key contributions, among others, will be retrieved. It includes the "Farewell to Aristotle" by Bolivian scholar Luis Ramiro Beltrán, serving as a critique of communicative functionalism and hegemonic Western thought. Other contributions are the proposals of Latin American dependency theorists (dependentistas) in opposition to modernization-oriented development. Finally, the critiques of technological solutionism that have taken shape in recent years will be presented, emerging from those who propose a sociocentric view of information technologies.