Introduction

Wealth breeds wealth. Power births more power. If you're not bothered by those statements, this book will bother you. Because it exposes how these dangerous cycles are hardening into a new, modern incarnation of feudalism right before our eyes across the Western world and rising superpowers.

Confused? Basically, we're heading towards a world with a huge gap between the ultra-wealthy elite at the top and everyone else. A world where it's really hard to move up the social ladder or achieve financial success if you're not born into money and privilege. Which is typical of feudalism from medieval times, but just a modern-day version of it. Or as it is formally called, neo-feudalism. Whether you lean conservative or progressive, chances are you don't want a society where a tiny number of people hoard massive amounts of wealth and power. 

Feudalism 2.0 sounds like a terrible sequel, don't you think? And neo-feudalism is playing out on the ground already; in superpowers like the U.S., U.K., Australia, China, and India. And in that sense, this book is sounding the alarm to quit sleepwalking into a world that pulls the rug out from under democracy's core promises - being masters of our own destiny, having a legitimate shot at climbing the economic ladder, and not being perpetually outranked by the privileged few.

So brace yourself, this book is about to show you where this road leads if we don't pump the brakes - and it might just spark ideas for changing course.

Summary

In the end, as R.H. Tawney wrote, "Happy the nation whose people have not forgotten how to rebel." Whether modern society can muster the resolve to reassert itself as engaged citizens upholding core democratic values and ideals will determine what kind of world, feudal or free, our children inherit. The choice is ours.

Understanding Feudalism 2.0

In movies, European feudalism is shown through fat nobles with whips and all, lording over obedient serfs. We like to think that nightmare ended when democracy and capitalism unchained the masses from such rigid class systems. But this feudalism is making a 21st century comeback. No, we won't be seeing knights on horseback. Neo-feudalism comes wrapped in a glossy veneer of high-tech and progressive buzzwords. Sustainability! Equality! Liberalism!! But strip away that shiny exterior, and you'll find the same rotten...