Comor is critical of the celebrants of digital technologies
440 - Co-creation and prosumption are non-alienating activities for celebrants (which he disagrees)
441 - Marx: Self-creation - individuals producing the conditions of their own environment
However in capitalism: workers' engagement in production is more of a matter of survival than self-creation (you work to make money to suvive, rather than create something of importance for your survival).
441 - Therefore, the worker resides in a state of alienation. He does not produce to realize his own creative powers, but rather he works to produce a wage, which will then allow him to consume (proletariat). The low wage and non-ownership of anything but his labour power, allows the worker the potential to realize his alienation (p. 444)
441 - The capitalist, meanwhile, (bougeois owner) doesn't even produce, but is insulated by his capital wealth, with no need to uncover or realize his alienation. This is because he is afforded power and status by this capital (444).
442 - Under capitalism, there are two main types of alienation:
product-alienation: the products the proletariat helps to produce is not owned by the proletariat or in some cases, not even viewed in total (as in assembly line work)
process-alienation: surplus value, rather than use-value, is generated from the Fordist environment of workers
Capitalism emphasizes market value, not use-value. The work of the proletariat does not serve the direct needs of the proletariat, but rather wages earned allow them to fulfill needs.
Comor disagrees with the argument that open source software and online collaborative work resolves this alienation: Empirical evidence doesn't prove it - because in cases where this appears to be the case, there is usually less job security (p. 443) or more pervasive forms of surviellance (p. 443).
443 - Plus, another contributing factor of alienation's persistance in the digital age is due to the consistant need to generate and increase surplus value - which is more easily captured by digital technologies
444-445 - For Marx, the heart of alienation is not in any of the alienations discussed above, but rather in the production process itself - production, distribution, exchange, and consumption. This process requires capitalists to "get more for less out of people". Therefore, more "dead" labour (machines) is employed which increases the dehumanization and creative capacities of people/workers. Workers merely become tools of capital. (People are alienated from their essence, species-being this way).
446 - Neoliberals that argue that digital technologies afford people the chance to become entrepreneurs and gain wealth & status are covering up for the fact that the consumer still has to operate within the economic system's control, relying on a network that compels them to constantly improve skills on new (and expensive) teachnology, hardware, and software. Many of these hopefuls' work also contributes to promoting and branding activities.
446 - Comor uses Wikipedia as an example and claims that the site is routinely "used to promote commercial interests". Not sure I agree, unless he is referring to product and company pages - but the companies don't own these pages, they may only monitor them.
447 - Additionally, even sites that appear to be truly democratic and collaborative use targeted marketing through prosumption aids in the disclosure of personal information
447 - For Comor, alienation comes down to the realization surplus values, a core component of capitalism - where both, the wage paid worker and the user providing unpaid intellectual labor, are both exploited (for surplus value)
448 - Comor warns that disparities in the levels of hiearchy are not flattening (as celebrants argue), but actually growing wider. The worker is doing less (de-skilling) with machines (such as price scanners, simple button-pushing repetitive machines, etc). Independent thought is "neutured"
448 - "From a Marxist perspective, these developments are perfectly rational - capital, after all, is compelled to seek profits (through the realization of surplus values) by using machines (including ICTs) to manage the division of labour in all facets of the production process."
449 - Conclusion - prosumption has the ability to hire workers as creative tools for exploitation, but can also sustain the status quo of product- & process-alienation. So really, it's more flexible and profitable for the capitalists than the traditional factory scene.
450-52 - So why does this happen? 1) the prosumer appears to be in control. 2) prosumers seek a sense of self-worth by commoditizing themselves (I think applicable to attention economy) and 3) to participate in communities that focus on celebrity culture (which I think is fans, parasocial interaction), heavily marketed brands, and other apolitical or commodified activities.
453 - Final Conclusion: "digital prosumption is destined to remain part and parcel of capital's production and reproduction priorities with alienated prosumers labouring to satisfy their own possessive individualist needs."
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