One dimensional man
About: This article is published in Philosophical Books.The article was published on 1965-05-01. It has received 2842 citations till now.
Citations
More filters
Book•
04 May 2017
TL;DR: Ekbia and Nardi as mentioned in this paper explore the social and technological processes through which economic value is extracted from digitally mediated work, the nature of the value created, and what prompts people to participate in the process.
Abstract: An exploration of a new division of laborbetween machines and humans, in which people provide value to the economy with little or no compensation. The computerization of the economy -- and everyday life -- has transformed the division of labor between humans and machines, shifting many people into work that is hidden, poorly compensated, or accepted as part of being a "user" of digital technology. Through our clicks and swipes, logins and profiles, emails and posts, we are, more or less willingly, participating in digital activities that yield economic value to others but little or no return to us. Hamid Ekbia and Bonnie Nardi call this kind of participation -- the extraction of economic value from low-cost or free labor in computer-mediated networks -- "heteromation." In this book, they explore the social and technological processes through which economic value is extracted from digitally mediated work, the nature of the value created, and what prompts people to participate in the process. Arguing that heteromation is a new logic of capital accumulation, Ekbia and Nardi consider different kinds of heteromated labor: communicative labor, seen in user-generated content on social media; cognitive labor, including microwork and self-service; creative labor, from gaming environments to literary productions; emotional labor, often hidden within paid jobs; and organizing labor, made up of collaborative groups such as citizen scientists. Ekbia and Nardi then offer a utopian vision: heteromation refigured to bring end users more fully into the prosperity of capitalism.
159 citations
Cites background from "One dimensional man"
...In this fashion, control and consent are historically and closely tied to each other, as Marcuse (1964) formulated (see chapter 3)....
[...]
...Some time after the Second World War, observers of capitalism argued that the capitalist economy had given rise to a society where individuals were torn apart from their communities and put together in the shape of a flat, anonymous mass (Marcuse 1964)....
[...]
19 Sep 2012-tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society
TL;DR: Fuchs as discussed by the authors discusses some foundations of contemporary Marxist media and communication studies, including a focus on the renewed interest in Dallas Smythe's audience commodity category as part of the digital labour debate.
Abstract: Due to the global capitalist crisis, neoliberalism and the logic of commodification of everything have suffered cracks, fissures and holes. There is a return of the interest in Marx, which requires us to think about the role of Marxism in Media and Communication Studies. This paper contributes to this task by discussing some foundations of contemporary Marxist media and communication studies, including a focus on the renewed interest in Dallas Smythe’s audience commodity category as part of the digital labour debate. Dallas Smythe reminds us of the importance of engagement with Marx’s works for studying the media in capitalism critically. Both Critical Theory and Critical Political Economy of the Media and Communication have been criticized for being one-sided. Such interpretations are mainly based on selective readings. They ignore that in both approaches there has been with different weightings a focus on aspects of media commodification, audiences, ideology and alternatives. Critical Theory and Critical Political Economy are complementary and should be combined in Critical Media and Communication Studies today. Dallas Smythe’s notion of the audience commodity has gained new relevance in the debate about corporate Internet services’ exploitation of digital labour. The exploitation of digital labour involves processes of coercion, alienation and appropriation. Author Biography Christian Fuchs, Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media Christian Fuchs is professor and chair in media and communication studies at Uppsala University's Department of Informatics and Media. He is board member of the Unified Theory of Information Research Group and editor of tripleC (cognition, communication, co-operation): Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society. He holds a venia docendi in the field of ICTs and society. His research interests are: critical theory, social theory, media and society, ICTs and society, information society theory/research, political economy. He is author of many publications in these fields, including the books 'Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age' (Routledge 2008), which presents a social theory of contemporary society with a special consideration of media, information, and technology, and the book 'Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies' (Routledge 2011), which is an introduction to the theoretical and methodological foundations of critical media studies and critical information science. He is co-ordinator of the research project 'Social Networking Sites in the Surveillance Society' (funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF), co-ordinator of Uppsala University's involvement in the 2 EU FP7 projects PACT and RESPECT, and management committee member of the EU COST Action 'Living in Surveillance Societies'. URL: http://fuchs.uti.at Dallas Smythe Today-The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory
156 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a theoretical analysis of the conflict-enhancing potential of accounting reports in a crisis situation is presented, and an illustration is provided through an analysis of developments in Germany up to the aftermath of the First World War.
Abstract: Accounting reports have been depicted in the literature as ideological, conflict-resolving practices in capitalistic society. Employing insights from critical theory, this theme is developed in the present analysis through a theorizing of the conflict-enhancing potential of accounting, particularly in a crisis situation. Accounting is understood to possess an aura in the context of the hegemony of capitalist society which, on its transformation, can engender consequences disturbing rather than stabilizing for a prevalent capitalistic order. An illustration is provided through an analysis of developments in Germany up to the aftermath of the First World War. The awareness created by the theoretical analysis hopefully serves to enhance the social analysis of accounting.
156 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss postmodernism and higher education in the context of higher education, and present a survey of the literature on postmodernity in higher education and education.
Abstract: (1995). Postmodernism and Higher Education. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 66, No. 5, pp. 521-559.
155 citations
TL;DR: A recent growth in victimological studies has examined violence done to workers in a number of professional and occupational settings as mentioned in this paper, and the complex relationship of athletes to the culture of their workplace.
Abstract: A recent growth in victimological studies has examined violence done to workers in a number of professional and occupational settings. This paper begins by detailing the complex relationship of athletes to the culture of their workplace. This is an arena that requires routine violence done both by and to athletes, and ultimately guarantees injury, but is one that also paradoxically privileges only the healthy contributor. In addition to suggesting how athletic work may be linked to broader processes of gender ordering, and how meaning is derived by male participants, the paper examines how the various rewards of such work appear to coexist with subjugation and disablement. This occupationally experienced dialectic is discussed in terms of the legal notion of volenti, or voluntary assumption of risk, and of player attempts to correct workplace injustices.
152 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined accounts of travelers in terms of Erving Goffman's front versus back distinction and found that tourists try to enter back regions of the places they visit because these regions are associated with intimacy of relations and authenticity of experiences.
Abstract: The problem of false consciousness and its relationship to the social structure of tourist establishments is analyzed. Accounts of travelers are examined in terms of Erving Goffman's front versus back distinction. It is found that tourists try to enter back regions of the places they visit because these regions are associated with intimacy of relations and authenticity of experiences. It is also found that tourist settings are arrenged to produce the impression that a back region has been entered even when this is not the case. In tourist settings, between the front and the back there is a series of special spaces designed to accommodate tourists and to support their beliefs in the authenticity of their experiences. Goffman's front-back dichotomy is shown to be ideal poles of a continuum, or a variable.
2,627 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Casey as discussed by the authors explored the effects of contemporary practices of work on the self and found that changes currently occuring in the world of work are part of the vast social and cultural changes that are challenging the meta trends of modern industrialism.
Abstract: Despite recent interest in the effects of restructuring and redesigning the work place, the link between individual identity and structural change has usually been asserted rather than demonstrated. Through an extensive review of data from field work in a multi-national corporation Catherine Casey changes this. She knows that changes currently occuring in the world of work are part of the vast social and cultural changes that are challenging the meta trends of modern industrialism. These events affect what people do everyday, and they are altering relations among ourselves and with the physical world. This valuable book is not only a critical analysis of the transformations occurring in the world of work, but an exploration of the effects of contemporary practices of work on the self.
540 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors interpret critical urban theory with reference to four mutually interconnected elements: its theoretical character; its reflexivity; its critique of instrumental reason; and its emphasis on the disjuncture between the actual and the possible.
Abstract: What is critical urban theory? While this phrase is often used in a descriptive sense, to characterize the tradition of post‐1968 leftist or radical urban studies, I argue that it also has determinate social–theoretical content. To this end, building on the work of several Frankfurt School social philosophers, this paper interprets critical theory with reference to four, mutually interconnected elements—its theoretical character; its reflexivity; its critique of instrumental reason; and its emphasis on the disjuncture between the actual and the possible. On this basis, a brief concluding section considers the status of urban questions within critical social theory. In the early 21st century, I argue, each of the four key elements within critical social theory requires sustained engagement with contemporary patterns of capitalist urbanization. Under conditions of increasingly generalized, worldwide urbanization, the project of critical social theory and that of critical urban theory have been intertwined a...
356 citations
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the key images of identity in organizations found in the research literature, including self-doubters, strugglers, surfers, storytellers, strategists, stencils and soldiers.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of the key images of identity in organizations found in the research literature. Image refers to the overall idea or conceptualization, capturing how researchers relate to — and shape — a phenomenon. Seven images are suggested: self-doubters, strugglers, surfers, storytellers, strategists, stencils and soldiers. These refer to how the individual is metaphorically understood in terms of identity, that is, how the researcher (research text) captures the individual producing a sense of self. The article aims to facilitate orientation — or encourage productive confusion — within the field, encourage reflexivity and sharpen analytic choices through awareness of options for how to conceptualize self-identity constructions.
289 citations