Digital Labour and Karl Marx _ Christian Fuchs _ 2014

DIGITAL LABOUR AND KARL MARX

Christian Fuchs

First Publish 2014 Routledge

Pages 423

1. Introduction 1

1.1. The Need for Studying Digital Labour 1

1.2. The Disappearance and Return of Karl Marx 9

PART I

Theoretical Foundations of Studying Digital Labour 21

2. An Introduction to Karl Marx’s Theory 23

2.1. Introduction 23

2.2. Marx on Work and Labour 25

2.2.1. Work and Labour in Society 25

2.2.2. Labour in Capitalism and Other Class Societies 31

2.2.3. Work in Communism 38

2.3. Marx’s Labour Theory of Value 40

2.3.1. The German Debate on Marx’s Labour Theory of Value 40

2.3.2. A Reconstruction of Marx’s Labour Theory of Value 46

2.3.2.1. Use-Value and Value 46

2.3.2.2. Exchange-Value 49

2.3.2.3. Money and Price 51

2.3.2.4. The Value and Price of Labour-Power 53

2.3.2.5. Surplus Value 55

2.4. Conclusion 57

3. Contemporary Cultural Studies and Karl Marx 59

3.1. Introduction 59

3.2. Lawrence Grossberg: Cultural Studies in the Future Tense 64

3.3. John Hartley: Digital Futures for Cultural and Media Studies 68

3.4. Paul Smith: The Renewal of Cultural Studies 70

3.5. Conclusion 72

4. Dallas Smythe and Audience Labour Today 74

4.1. Introduction 74

4.2. The Importance of Critical Political Economy, Critical Theory

and Dallas Smythe 75

4.3. The Renewal of the Audience Labour- and Audience

Commodity-Debate 85

4.4. Digital Labour: Capital Accumulation and Commodification

on Social Media 96

4.5. Ideology, Play and Digital Labour 122

4.6. A Critique of the Critique of Digital Labour 127

4.7. Conclusion 132

5. Capitalism or Information Society? 135

5.1. Introduction 135

5.2. A Classification of Information Society Theories 137

5.3. An Alternative View of the Information Society 144

5.4. Information Society Indicators: Measuring the Information Society 145

5.5. Conclusion 149

PART II

Analysing Digital Labour: Case Studies 153

6. Digital Slavery: Slave Work in ICT-Related Mineral Extraction 155

6.1. Introduction 155

6.2. Marx on Modes of Production 157

6.2.1. Unpaid Work in the Family as Mode of Production 166

6.2.2. Ancient and Feudal Slavery as Modes of Production 167

6.2.3. The Capitalist Mode of Production 168

6.2.4. Informational Productive Forces 169

6.3. Digital Media and Minerals 172

6.4. The Productive Forces of Mineral Extraction in the International

Division of Digital Labour: Labour-Power and the Objects, Tools and

Products of Labour 174

6.5. The Relations of Production of Mineral Extraction in the

International Division of Digital Labour 175

6.6. Conclusion 180

7. Exploitation at Foxconn: Primitive Accumulation and the

Formal Subsumption of Labour 182

7.1. Introduction 183

7.2. Foxconn’s Productive Forces in the International Division of

Digital Labour: Labour-Power and the Objects, Tools

and Products of Labour 185

7.3. Foxconn’s Relations of Production in the International

Division of Digital Labour 186

7.4. Conclusion 194

8. The New Imperialism’s Division of Labour: Work in the

Indian Software Industry 200

8.1. Introduction 200

8.2. The Indian Software Industry’s Productive Forces in the

International Division of Digital Labour: Labour-Power

and the Objects, Tools and Products of Labour 202

8.3. The Indian Software Industry’s Relations of Production in

the International Division of Digital Labour 203

8.4. Conclusion 208

9. The Silicon Valley of Dreams and Nightmares of Exploitation:

The Google Labour Aristocracy and Its Context 213

9.1. Introduction 213

9.2. Silicon Valley’s Productive Forces in the International Division

of Digital Labour: Labour-Power and the Objects,

Tools and Products of Labour 216

9.3. The Relations of Production of Google and the Silicon Valley

in the International Division of Digital Labour 218

9.4. Conclusion 231

10. Tayloristic, Housewifized Service Labour:

The Example of Call Centre Work 233

10.1. Introduction 234

10.2. The Call Centre’s Productive Forces in the International

Division of Digital Labour: Labour-Power and the Objects,

Tools and Products of Labour 235

10.3. The Call Centre’s Relations of Production in the ICT

Industry’s Global Value Chain 236

10.4. Conclusion 238

11. Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 243

11.1. Introduction 244

11.2. Users and the Productive Forces in the International Division

of Digital Labour: Labour-Power and the Objects,

Tools and Products of Labour 245

11.3. Users and the Relations of Production in the ICT Industry’s

Global Value Chain 246

11.3.1. Digital Work on Social Media 247

11.3.2. Digital Labour 254

11.3.3. Digital Labour and the Law of Value on

Social Media 275

11.4. Conclusion 280

PART III

Conclusions 283

12. Digital Labour and Struggles for Digital Work:The Occupy

Movement as a New Working-Class Movement? Social Media

as Working-Class Social Media? 285

12.1. Conclusion of Chapters 2–11 286

12.2. Digital Work and the Commons 297

12.3. The Occupy Movement: A New Working-Class Movement? 308

12.3.1. Social Movement Theory 309

12.3.2. The Occupy Movement in Contemporary

Political Theory 311

12.3.3. The Occupy Movement’s Self-Understanding 316

12.3.4. What Is the Occupy Movement? 321

12.4. Occupy, Digital Work and Working-Class Social Media 323

12.4.1. Social Movements, the Internet and Social Media 324

12.4.2. The Occupy Movement and Social Media 326

12.4.2.1. Position 1—Technological Determinism:

The Occupy Movement (and Other

Rebellions) Are Internet Rebellions 326

12.4.2.2. Position 2—Social Constructivism:We

Have Been Witnessing Social Rebellions

and Social Revolutions,Where Social

Media Have Had Minor Importance;

Social Media Are No Relevant Factor in

Rebellions 329

12.4.2.3. Position 3—Dualism: Social Media Have

Been an Important Tool of the Occupy

Movement;There Are Technological and

Societal Causes of the Movement 330

12.4.2.4. Position 4—Social Media and

Contradictions: A Dialectical View 331

12.4.3. A Theoretical Classification of Social Media

Use in the Occupy Movement 333

12.5. Conclusion 340

13. Digital Labour Keywords 348

Bibliography 363

Index 389