485 - Alienation of worker from production is well documents, but alienation of species-becoming is neglected and yet relevant today
Species-being: capacity to collectively transform this natural basis through will and consciousness. To have control over the direction of society and environment. For Marx, this power is manifested in the cooperative organization of labour, the power of humans to affect their natural environment, the emancipation of women, the formation of cities, the application of science & tech to further develop the five senses.
However, under capitalism, the "planet factory" (as Dyer-Witheford calls it) subsumes production-consumption, social reproduction and even genetic and ecological aspects of life.
486 - Through industrialization, we have permanently changed the earth's ecology and climate. This includes information technologies: robots and super computers have changed work conditions, artificial intelligence has emerged along with virtual worlds for "second lives," and biotechnologies that alter cognitive and physical human properties/capabilities.
486-487 Life itself is a "real abstraction" through capital because our lives are reduced to information which is then turned into a productive force within capitalism
487 - Dyer-Witheford suggests "species-becoming" be renamed "species-becoming" because our only essence is our "historical plasticity" (being reshaped or molded).
Marx's species-being is determined by class and conflict. In this context, alienation is not an issue of estrangement from a natural world, but rather a question of who is controlling the collective self. The concentration of control within a section of the species is who controls the trajectory of the society.
Futuristic accumulation - commodification of publicly created scientific knowledge which via copyright/patent is privatized for the extraction of monopolistic rent.
Under futuristic accumulation, "the expropriation" (taking of private property for public/gov use) "of general intellect and universal labour are the basis for the alienation of species-being."
ex. publicly funded schools tapped and captured by private interests and then re-sold to the public that originally funded the project. (I think baseball stadiums also apply to this where the public pays for the construction of the building, but are then charged to enter it or use the facilities).
488 - the crisis of Fordism in the 1970s was met with a solution of computers. Dyer-Witheford argues that the most important moment in the foundation of digital labour was the development of computing in the 70s by the Pentagon, Universities, and defense industries.
Bio-capital then came about in the 1980s (genetic investments) followed by the explosion of the Internet in the 1990s. Author says Netscape's commercialization of the browser exhibited futuristic accumulation because it had been publicly funded research.
489 - Primitive accumulation - the appropriating of land by business and the buying & selling of labour power.
By contrast to primitive, futuristic is different because it takes the basic domains of life - cognitive, biological, existential - and commodifies it. Futuristic commands and directs the evolution of life itself. This enclosure of the future is alienating species-being from the person. They do not control the ownership of their thought material or the direction of their life. (Do you think this applies to personal data as well?? It is behavioral, which is somewhat thought-related.)
490 - concept of the global worker is not new (labour is motivated by capital); however today it's positioned with the value chain - today, labour processes from start to finish add value every step of the way. They require a lot of reach and managing, which is only capable by multinational corporations. These steps include: research & development, assembly, marketing, distribution around the world, and everything is calculated "in terms of production costs, resource availability, and proximity to markets, to maximize profits."
491 - Digital Technologies cut costs in these value chains: communication, coordination, production (and thus, are essential to value chains)
But value chains are also necessary for digital technologies - developing software & programming, research & development, marketing, etc: free labour, immaterial labour, outsourced labour, (all cheap labour) I would also include co-creation and prosumption here.
Often times, hardware is designed by high-level engineers, but the systems are then built by automated (machinic) processes or cheap labor in dangerous work conditions
492 - Additionally, the planet factory command & control flow down the value chain while value & profit flow upwards to the top
494 - Singularity capitalism - constant capital (machines) versus variable capitalism (living labor)
The purpose of capitalism is to keep raising the proportion of constant to variable. This allows for more profit and future expansion, but it also increases the ratio of technology to humans.
Organic composition of capital is the ratio of humans to tech. Dyer-Witheford suggests this be called "inorganic" because of the rising disproportion of technology/machines to humans.
495 - Furthermore, informational technologies that break down or blur the distinction between machines and humans create new forms of bio-technological and nanotechnological production.
Signularity capital denies the capacity of humans to change their species-being, denying them a way to change the direction/trajectory of society, and allows a select few to trample/rule everyone else.
498 - Solution: Transititon from an organic composition of capital to a class composition of capital where the technical composition of class (labour process in which it is involed) becomes the basis for political composition (capacity to become a counter power against capitalist command).
499 - Here, the point for political struggle would be to replace organic composition of capital with organic composition of the communal, where decisions over resource allocation and investment are determined in a collective and democratic fashion.
Digital labour would have 3 roles in this new class composition:
1. allow for collective & productive decision making
2. Cooperative production would take place through open-source knowledge
3. networks become the central site of democratic planning and debate
My critique of this: doesn't this assume there is no digital divide? and post-vote, who is enforcing the decisions made? And what about policing networks to avoid censorship or blackouts?
Dyer-Witheford argues that western media has focused on the "haves" rather than the underpivileged classes where the possibility of revolt lies under the surface.
Showing posts with label class composition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class composition. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Comor (2010) Contextualizing and critiquing the fantastic prosumer: power, alienation and hegemony
310 - Comor challenges the proponents of prosumption and claims that neo-liberal corporations have subsumed any democratic properties of prosumption
311 - cites Toffler (1980) The Third Wave - which is a futuristic view of prosumption from 1980. Toffler predicts that "property owners will produce their own goods and services for corporations through paid contractual arrangements" or some other kind of non-renumerated reciprocity. Toffler's systems, according to Comor, does not transcend capitalism, but rather alters it to operate at its highest possible level. (Disparities still exist in Toffler's future society)
Perhaps I can tie in Dyer-Witherford here? And his notion of class composition switching to a "bottom up" approach in production??
312 - Historically, the prosumer's ascent came from the collapse of Fordism in the 1970s and the rise of neo-liberalism. Where mass production of Fordists was a one-way street, prosumption/co-creation stresses experimenting and playing among consumers (within the corporation's guidelines, of course)
312 - the term co-creation Comor believes was appropriated by business interests as framing prosumption as a consumer-corporate business interest. For academics, co-creation is used to celebrate consumption and consumer choice. Comor says he uses co-creation and prosumption interchangeably.
312 - prosumption is not new, but consumers are more aware of it now. Comor uses the example of producing what people consume with sauce. They open the jar, heat the sauce, and then eat it. A form of prosumption for Comor.
313 - Marx: two primary mediations in life: private property and contracts (waged labour)
People are compelled to work to earn the monies to acquire their needs.
Prior to capitalism, workers were forced to labor (slaves) and were unfree. But capitalism now allows workers to freely enter into contracts (waged labor) where money (rather than a gun) becomes the essential medium of exchange to extract surpluses. (314) - Therefore, capitalists focus on the balance sheets rather than the human being workers. Labor becomes a tool - "concrete human relations are neglected while mediations proliferate."
314 - In this system, workers are ruled by abstractions because there are so many layers of management (Think of Undercover Boss - does he really need to dress up?)
Marx: Abstraction is "a relation, or even a thing, which then becomes a thought." (Toscano, 2008, p. 282). A "real abstraction" is something like exchange - where material goods can be concretely exchanged, but it's based on a social construction which has been historically created.
314 - "For Marx, the production process itself abstracts labor."
-labor power treated as a commodity - meaning it is used for commercial exchange value - results in the hiding from view that humans are exploited producers. When price values and commodity exchange dominate a system, the people in it are trivialized as an outcome of how "they live and interact."
314 - Comor draws on the hegemonic messages of prosumption that people are free and empowered through their participation. This is a result of "real abstraction." They are really free to post online, and share ideas... however they are abstracted from the notion that they are doing this within the capitalist system, within corporation's rules, and willingly providing exchange value.
316 - prosumers work within the hierarchy and architecture of the corporate firm
317 - Even open source codes, such as Linux, still had a central node where expansion and creativity report to in order to retain the node's dominant position
319 - alienation is a fundamental part of capitalism. Tech allows for that further separation of mental labor from manual labor by facilitating taylorism. Job tasks are "de-skilled" according to Comor because of the lack of creativity and control within the corporation's hiearchy (automatic price scanners, other instances where computers are doing the work for the employee and the employee is merely performing a repetitive and mindless action).
319 - conditions of alienation will remain mostly unchanged for workers in post-Fordist societies
319 - prosumption as real abstraction is an essential part of alienation
320 - Regardless of what is produced or for whom, "if the purpose and result of prosumer labor is the advancement of exchange values or profits, status quo relations will remain largely unchanged."
320 - But if use-value is prioritized over exchange value when it comes to prosumption, then celebrants will have an intriguing point to their argument.
320 - so why prosume?
-self-worth by marketing themselves to others, promoting/selling themselves as a commodity, building a celebrity brand now serves as role models for our culture. Get known. (think viral status)
321 - Comor concludes that prosumption cannot separate from capitalism and taylorism. It has been captured and centralized within this system. It empowers both, corporate interests and commodity-focused individuals. (attention economy, here, perhaps?)
322 - prosumers' freedoms extend only within the exisiting political-economy framework and laws. it's not manipulation or coercion - it's notoriety (attention).
Prosumption preserves the status quo. (not all prosumers are equally alienated, but even these individuals are not safe from exploitation).
311 - cites Toffler (1980) The Third Wave - which is a futuristic view of prosumption from 1980. Toffler predicts that "property owners will produce their own goods and services for corporations through paid contractual arrangements" or some other kind of non-renumerated reciprocity. Toffler's systems, according to Comor, does not transcend capitalism, but rather alters it to operate at its highest possible level. (Disparities still exist in Toffler's future society)
Perhaps I can tie in Dyer-Witherford here? And his notion of class composition switching to a "bottom up" approach in production??
312 - Historically, the prosumer's ascent came from the collapse of Fordism in the 1970s and the rise of neo-liberalism. Where mass production of Fordists was a one-way street, prosumption/co-creation stresses experimenting and playing among consumers (within the corporation's guidelines, of course)
312 - the term co-creation Comor believes was appropriated by business interests as framing prosumption as a consumer-corporate business interest. For academics, co-creation is used to celebrate consumption and consumer choice. Comor says he uses co-creation and prosumption interchangeably.
312 - prosumption is not new, but consumers are more aware of it now. Comor uses the example of producing what people consume with sauce. They open the jar, heat the sauce, and then eat it. A form of prosumption for Comor.
313 - Marx: two primary mediations in life: private property and contracts (waged labour)
People are compelled to work to earn the monies to acquire their needs.
Prior to capitalism, workers were forced to labor (slaves) and were unfree. But capitalism now allows workers to freely enter into contracts (waged labor) where money (rather than a gun) becomes the essential medium of exchange to extract surpluses. (314) - Therefore, capitalists focus on the balance sheets rather than the human being workers. Labor becomes a tool - "concrete human relations are neglected while mediations proliferate."
314 - In this system, workers are ruled by abstractions because there are so many layers of management (Think of Undercover Boss - does he really need to dress up?)
Marx: Abstraction is "a relation, or even a thing, which then becomes a thought." (Toscano, 2008, p. 282). A "real abstraction" is something like exchange - where material goods can be concretely exchanged, but it's based on a social construction which has been historically created.
314 - "For Marx, the production process itself abstracts labor."
-labor power treated as a commodity - meaning it is used for commercial exchange value - results in the hiding from view that humans are exploited producers. When price values and commodity exchange dominate a system, the people in it are trivialized as an outcome of how "they live and interact."
314 - Comor draws on the hegemonic messages of prosumption that people are free and empowered through their participation. This is a result of "real abstraction." They are really free to post online, and share ideas... however they are abstracted from the notion that they are doing this within the capitalist system, within corporation's rules, and willingly providing exchange value.
316 - prosumers work within the hierarchy and architecture of the corporate firm
317 - Even open source codes, such as Linux, still had a central node where expansion and creativity report to in order to retain the node's dominant position
319 - alienation is a fundamental part of capitalism. Tech allows for that further separation of mental labor from manual labor by facilitating taylorism. Job tasks are "de-skilled" according to Comor because of the lack of creativity and control within the corporation's hiearchy (automatic price scanners, other instances where computers are doing the work for the employee and the employee is merely performing a repetitive and mindless action).
319 - conditions of alienation will remain mostly unchanged for workers in post-Fordist societies
319 - prosumption as real abstraction is an essential part of alienation
320 - Regardless of what is produced or for whom, "if the purpose and result of prosumer labor is the advancement of exchange values or profits, status quo relations will remain largely unchanged."
320 - But if use-value is prioritized over exchange value when it comes to prosumption, then celebrants will have an intriguing point to their argument.
320 - so why prosume?
-self-worth by marketing themselves to others, promoting/selling themselves as a commodity, building a celebrity brand now serves as role models for our culture. Get known. (think viral status)
321 - Comor concludes that prosumption cannot separate from capitalism and taylorism. It has been captured and centralized within this system. It empowers both, corporate interests and commodity-focused individuals. (attention economy, here, perhaps?)
322 - prosumers' freedoms extend only within the exisiting political-economy framework and laws. it's not manipulation or coercion - it's notoriety (attention).
Prosumption preserves the status quo. (not all prosumers are equally alienated, but even these individuals are not safe from exploitation).
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