Subjectivations of Work: Subjectivations in Labour (original) (raw)
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It is quite paradoxical that one of the most traditionally despised human activities has become a leading contemporary man activity, namely labour (Arbeit). However, according to Hannah Arendt, this becomes problematic since labour leaves nothing behind its own process; its result is the consumption of things as soon as they emerge from the aforementioned activity. Hence, the abundance of goods, things in the contemporary world is no signal for its durability. Today we speak of closeness of the world in a manner what recently passed author Paul Virillio would have said that we live in a world where everything happens at the speed of light; the mobility of everything, which moves and is moved, becomes much faster. Words, information, concepts, things, etc., are consumed faster than that of the blink of an eye. But even if labour became leading activity at the expense of other human activities, namely τέχνη and πρᾶξις, whose hallmark was precisely the care for the world and its durability in immortalizing deeds and human artefacts, the notion of labour, however, has gone through a radical transformation. This not only means that we have to look at historical causes of how labour became a prominent and leading activity but also its biopolitical transformation and meaning through new possibilities. The latter notion will be shown through Antonio Negri`s and Michael Hardt`s analysis of labour.
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Each of us is aware, emotionally and intellectually, that we are potentially unemployed, potentially underemployed, potentially insecure or temporary workers, potential ‘part-timers’. … the central figure of our society – and the ‘normal’ condition within that society – is no longer (or is tending no longer to be) that of the ‘worker’. It is becoming rather the figure of the insecure worker… (Gorz, 1999: 53) Gorz’s measured summation of what is happening to work and working identities in the ‘new’ – that is to say, knowledge or information based – economy, resonates with much that has been written on the subject. The scenarios that different authors describe range from the wildly optimistic to the cataclysmically bleak, deploying styles and evidence ranging from apocalyptic hyperbole to dense, statistically informed projection. Perhaps the only point on which there is widespread agreement is that substantive restructuring of the economy at a global level, occasioned by an increasing dependence on knowledge or information resources, is underway that will, in fact has already begun to, irretrievably transform the character of work. The scale and scope of economic restructuring mean that its effects are to be felt not just upon employment and work but on the entire ‘social landscape of human life’ (Castells, 2000: 1). This transformation is too profound to put down to simple historical change, rather a sense of a complete break or rupture with the past pervades much of the literature in references to both endings and new ages, new beginnings (eg Rifkin, 1995; Castells, 2000; Beck 2000). A new epoch, in which no aspect of social life will be quite as it was, is thought to be upon us. If the character of economy, production and work is to be permanently transfigured this is to be matched by equally tenacious changes in culture, consumption and leisure.
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The new precarization of work, flexible precarization, presents changes and significant new elements within the context of precarious work. As a historical manifestation, it has gradually been included within structural-economic and institutional-political reforms. This paper aims to propose a conceptual map of the new precarization of work. The conceptual map is a critical tool for developing a scientific investigation and links concepts, context, and theoretical influences to promote the advancement of research in the field of the object studied. Three dimensions embodied the proposed map: the context, synthesized in the rise of neoliberalism, in the hegemony of the financial sector, in productive restructuring, and in economic globalization; flexible practices, in the condition of manifestations and causalities of the social arrangements, exposed in terms of the naturalization of unemployment, economic fatalism, the emptying of the State, the sanctity of contracts, deregulation, ...
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This paper deals with the questions: What is digital labour? What is digital work? Based on Marx's theory, we distinguish between work and labour as anthropological and historical forms of human activity. The notion of alienated labour is grounded in a general model of the work process that is conceptualized based on a dialectic of subject and object in the economy that we present in the form of a model, the Hegelian-Marxist dialectical triangle of the work process. Various aspects of a Marxist theory of work and labour, such as the notions of abstract and concrete labour, double-free labour, productive labour, the collective worker and general work are presented. Labour is based on a fourfold alienation of the human being. After these concepts are introduced, they are used for discussing the notions of digital labour and digital work. The presentation is on the one hand general and on the other hand uses Facebook as a concrete case for explaining how digital labour functions. Digital work is the organisation of human experiences with the help of the human brain, digital media and speech in such a way that new products are created. Digital labour is the valorisation dimension of digital work. We conclude that we require the transformation of digital labour into digital work, a true social media revolution that makes "social media" truly and fully social. We also argue why in our view work is not the same as labour by discussing the concept of playful work and pointing out limits of concepts such as antiwork, postwork and zerowork.