DIGITAL LABOUR AND KARL MARX

DIGITAL LABOUR
AND KARL MARX

How is labour changing in the age of computers. the Internet. and social
media such a!> Facebook. Google, YouTube and Twitter? In D(~irnl l.Ab,,ur ,md
K,irl .\!a 'X. Christian Fuchs attempts to answer that question. crafting a systematic
critical theorisation of labour as performed in the capitalist ICT industry. R ely-
mg on a range of global case studies-from unpaid social media prosumers or
Chinese hardware assemblers at Foxconn to mmers in the Democrauc R epublic
o:· Congo- Fuchs sheds light on the labour costs of digital media . examining the
,vay ICT corporations exploit human labour and the impact of this exploitation
on the liws. bodies. and minds of workers.

Chris ti an Fuch s is professor of social media at the Un.iYersityof Westminster m

London. He 1s the author of more than 200 academic publications in the fields of
ln:e-rnet studies. social media studies. criocal social theory and information society
s:mhes. He 1s the editor of the open access online journal tripleC: Co111111u111catio11,
G:;::tafum & Critiqt4e.Among his publications are the books Iuternet ,wd SorietJ:
.F.::ir.Jaticis cf Critirnl .\fedia a11dI,~(ormatio11
Studies, and the collected ,·olumes
l~t a .1 Sun-eillance: TI,e Ch,1/let1tesefWeb 2.0 and Social .\{edia and Critique.
Sxu! .\ft · a, a11dthe b!formati1mS,.iciety.
 DIGITAL LABOUR
AND KARL MARX

Christian Fuchs

!l
i~
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or retne,.il s~'Stern.\\-it1out permis-s.JOli
Jny intOrrt:,iltiOn s.tor.1g:e u1 wne.:1g
tn>m ;he pabbhers.
1r,,,1,·11wi: ProJuct or corpol"Jte names m,y b.- tudemuks or reg1>,ert"J
11,>r<,t':
:r.Jem.1rks .. rnd are u;c-d only for idenrificanon and explanar:on ,nthout
m:ent lo :r.ii'm,ge-
tf
LiJ.r,I'}" C.\~•~('rt~
Cu.il(~H1_~•i1t•PuMic~1titlfi
D,1t1!
Fuchs, Chrbti.m. 1976-
Diizi:JI labor md Karl Man . Christtan Fuch,.
i-"'~~cru
lndudes bibliographicJI rt"tert"nc~s and mdex.
I Knowkdg:t" worker;. 2. Information technolo~ ·- Econom:c
~<p~,:r, 3. Inform.men technology-Soci..J •spects. 4. Indumial
sociol~y. I. Tule.
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This book is dedicatedto :\larisol and the singularity
1.four 11on of loi1e
-labo11r

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.=-o u11aRe111.>lu,iti,i
,pi« he de cada dit1
d c:m!ffl.:::ode u11anuem l'icwria

-Gioconda Belli
CONTENTS

La cf Figuresm,d T.1l,/es :,:iii

h:.trod ..11.:aon 1
1. 1. 1 • Seed ft>rSrudyittl!D,,l!italLab1>11r 1
1.2. 1 D1sappeara11cc a11dReturn 4 Karl .\for.\ · 9

PARTI
Theo retical Foundations of Studying Digital Labour 21

- An Introduction to Karl Marx's Theory 23

l 1. lntrod11crio11 23
')-
l . ?. .\1arx 1ml1iirk m,d L1b,>11r _ :,
')-
2.2. 1. ll:i>rk a11dLab<mri11So(lcty _:,
2.2.2. Lab1111r in Capitalismand Orl,er Cl11ssS1>cicries 31
2.2.3. lliirk i11Co1111111111is111 38
:! 3 . .\1arx's Labclllr/1,eory<)/ lhlue 40
2.3. I. TI,e German Drbareon ,\for.d Lab,111rl11cvry 1!{Hil11e 40
2.3.2. A Rm111stn1aw11 tf .\farxs Labo11rTI1e,1ry
ofl'i1l11e 46
2.3.2. I. Use-I i1l11cand l 'al11e 46
2.3 .2.2. Ewl1t11{{!C-
li1l11e 49
2.3.2.3. M1>11r}'and Price 51
2.3.2. 4 11,e i,1l11e
a11dPrireof Lab<lllr-Powcr 53
2.3.2.5. S11rpl11sValue 55
:: 4 . Co11d11si1111 5-
viii Contents

J. Contemporary Culruril Sn.:die, .mJ K.1rl :--1.,rx

3. I. llltn,d11rt1,,11
3.2. L1wrmcc Cn>ssbn;I!: Cultural \tudi1..•, in the f-=uttm·fen,1..· (>➔
3 3. ]1>/111H,mlcy : Digit,11 futurt'\ for Culn,r,il ,md J\lcdiJ ~tudi1..·, 68
3 -l P.11, S" th: The RenewJ.l of C:ulturJ.l \rudie, 70
3 5. C1111c/m11111 ,_
--,

➔• Dal!J~ \mythe Jnd Audienc1..•Labour lixby 74

-l. I Imri,d11a,1111 -'
, "T

-l l 111cI1111w1,1• ·1 if Critical A1/itict1Il:M111111y. Critic,i/ "111cM)'

awl D,11/.1sS111ytlll' 75
-l.3 171cRell,;, .1 f ·he A11d1c11cc L1b,,11r - ,md A11din,re
C,•1111111,dit)'-D<'bt1t1•
-l. -l Dix.:t,1' L1b,•11r: Capit.1/Am111111l111io11 a11dC,111111wdijicat11111
," .s,, :I .\lctfia 9(l
-l.5 . Idc,,ft~y.Play 1111d D(1!1t.1I
Lib,,,., 122
-l. 6. A Critique if rl,c Criti,111c ,!fD\l!ltal L1b1111r 127
-l. 7. C,,11d11si,lll U2

5. Capitah,m or Information ~ociety? 135

5. I. Imwd11ai,•11 135
5.1. A Cl,1.,siji,mw11 ,f h1fim11ati1"'$(),:, t· 71,,,,rics 1.37
5.3. A11Altcm<llil't l ·,ell'1fr/1rl,!f,,r,mttl,,11'>,•cicty 1.i..i
5.-l. bifim11mi,,,,
\, 1etyllldicawrs:.\fct1s1,•m w '<,ricty 1 ➔5
., •.!,el11{t,rmat1
5.5. C,,11d11sit,11 149

PART II
Analysing Digital Labour: Case Studies 153

<i. Di~ital \lawn: ,!Jye Work m ICT-Rcbted !v1incral Exrr.1ction 155

6. I. b1tr,·•d11m,,11 155
6.l . .\Jar.\·,,,, .\/,ides t:{J>rud11cti,111 l 57
6. 2. I. l '11p,11d ll ;,,I-.·
i11ti1t 1 .1111ily ,,s_\li,detf Pn1d11cth111 l 66
6.2.l. A,wrm a11dFc111::S i.:· ..,.)'as .\!tides ,f Pn1d11a,,,11 167
6.2.3. 'l11eC1pit.1/ist.\ltidc 1~ Pn>d11wo11 1<>8
6.2.-l. I,!f~,m1mfo11al Pr.,d11crivc Fi1rrcs 169
6.3. D(l!ital .\lcdia ,md .\Ji11cra/_, I T2.
6. -l 771t•Pnld11aii·chwc~· ,f .\l111cr,1/ £\·tr.1ctit,11 i11 rite
Jmcmatfo,wl Divisio114 D!git.1/L1bt111r: Ltbt•11r-A,u't'r
a11dtlic Ol1icm.Iii,1/s,111dPn,d11,·ts if Ltbtiur 174
 Contents Ix

6.5. 11,e Relmiti11s4 Prt1d11ait>11tf .\1111cm/£\"lr,mi,,11

111the l11te111,1t11111<1/ t?{D(l!iTalL1b,•11r
Di1·isit>11 175
6. 6. C.,11d11sio11 180

, . Explon.mon ;lt Foxconn: Primim·e Accumul.1rion and the

Formal Suh,umption of labour 182
7. I. lutn>d11aitm 1lB
- 7 Et\·1"1>1111's Prt>d11ai1'c
Forcesi11the l11tcrn,1tit11wl
Dil'is,,111
'·-· t?{D(l!i111/L1b,111r:
L1h,,11r ,md cl,e ObJtas. 1,1,1/s
-Pt•11'<'r
and Pn,ducts tf L1b,111r 185
7.3. Ftn-n>1111 t?{Prod11cti,>11
'.,Relatit111s i11the illtt·matit>1111/
Dh,iMII if D(l!tMILab,11,r 186
7. -l. G111c/11sfo11 I 94

S. The New Imperialism\ Division oflabour:Work in the

Indian Soft,,·are Indmtr~ 200
8. l. lll1n,,l11rt1t>11 200
8.2. 11,c lndil111S,~ft,mrcInd11str)'sPmd11cti1•e Forcesi11the
ltitcm,1tit1nalDil'isiti11,f D~1!1t.ll
Labt>ur:L1bt>11r
-Am...-r
a11dthe ObJtYts.fot1ls,md Pn,duas <?f L1bo11r 202
8.3. 11,c Jnd,1111 St~ft1,urcJud11stry'sRefari,ms <ifPn1dr1ai,>11
i11
DiPisio11if D1,1!1Tt1I
the illtmu1ti<>11<1/ L1l>1>11r 203
8. -I. C.111c/11sit>11 208

9. T:1<~Sil1eonValley of Dreams and t\ 1ghtmare, of Ex-ploitanon:

The Google Labour Amcocracy ,md Its Context 213
9. 1 [111r,1d11ctio11 2U
9.:: Sil:« 111l ;,liq 's Pr.1d11ai1·c
Ft,rcc_, Divisfo11
i11the l11tem,1tio11.il
•!(D(~ital I.Al,,111r:L1bo11r-P.111\'T 1111dtlw 0/~jcas,]i,11/s
a11dPwd11ctsof L1/lt>ur 216
9.3. 111eRelations <?fPr.1d11ai,111 ,mdtlu Silin111IM/ey
1f G,1,'.!!lc
111tlic /111cmarl(l11<1/Dil'isi.i111fD(l!iralLa/,c1" 21S
9. 4. C111dwic>11 23 I

T.ayloristic. Housewifizcd Sen·in: l.1bour:

The Ex:.imple of Call Centre \Vork 2,13
I 0. 1. Itirn1d11aw11 1.)➔
10.?. 111cC.111 Crntrc'., Pr.>d11cti1·r i11t/1r /111cmario11al
h>rc1·s
Divis,011,f D~l!it,1/L1bt>11r:
L1b,,11r-A•ll'am,d rlie Objws,
Toolsand Prc,d11wcf L1b,,,,, 235
x Contents

1?{Prt>d11ai,,11
10.J. 11,e Call Crntrc's Relmi1111s i11cite
lmen1c1ti1lflctl 1!{D(!!iWIL1b,,11r
Di11isit111 236
10.4. Ctmcl11sio11 238

11. Theorizing Dig1tal Labour on Social ~kdia 2-B

11. 1. llltn,d11ctiii11 244
11.2. C'scrsa11dtlic Productit't'F.>rces
i11tlic lntcmari,,1111/
'!f D(i1iralLab1>11r:
Dii1isfo11 lAbilllr-A>weraud tlH•O~icw,
i111dPn,ducrs,f Lab,>11r
"Ji>t>ls 245
11.3. L"scrsaud tlu Rdttcfo11s1fProd11aiii11 111 cl,c illcm1t1tfo11al
Division ,f D~l!italLab,,ur
11.3. 1. D!l!•wln ~1rk,,,, S,,cial.\ledia
11.3.2. D(l!iMILtb,111•,,, S,>(d .\fed1i1 25 ....
,ma cheL1w ,fr ;1/11e -,--
11.J. 3. Dtl!italL1b1>11r .\lcdi,1
011.'>t>c111/ - :,
11.4. C1mc/11sio11 280

PARTIll
Conclusions 283

12. D1g1talLabour and Struggb for Digital Work Tht. Occupy

Mo\'t:ment as a l'\ew Workmg-Class MO\·ement? Sonal ;..1edi.1
as Working-Cla,, Social Media? 285
12 l Ctmcl11s1 ,111.f Cliapu r.-2- 11 286
12. 2. D{l!italH i>rk,md tl1t·Ct,,11111,>11s 29i
12. 3. '11,eOcwpy .\fo,.•emt'llf:.-i .'-:cil'rt i>r/.:i11,1!-Class
.\liwcmem? 308
12.3. I S,,(ial .\l,wcmcllt 111cMy 309
12.3.2 J71t Occupy .\f,wemcm i11C1mcc111pNa')'
P.1/it1cal I11e,,,-,, 311
12.3.3. 11,e Occ11py .\ltwn11e11t'sSe[{-C;11dersu111di11g 316
12.3.-l. Wl1,1tls tile Om,py .\l,wf111rm? 321
1.!A. Ocwpy. D1.1!:t.1l It i1rk<111d Mi1rki1~~-Class
S(1c,ti \ledia 32.,
11.4. 1. S11(1,1{.\ltW<'lllfllts. c/1clmt r11ctmid S1~·,,1/.\ledi,1 324
12.4.2. 11,e Orwpy .\f,wc111e111 a11dSocial .\lrdw 326
12. -l. 2. 1. P.1sitit>11 1- 1i·d11111f(lxical
Deccm,inim,:
77,r OcCllp)'.\fovcmcm f,md Ocher
RcbelhlllsJArt b,ccmec Rcbd{h,11s 326
12.4. 2.2. PMiti.111 2-St1m1/ Ctm.-m1ctil'is111: f Ii·
Ha· 't &c11If 'it1ussi11.~S,1,.,1/Rcbcllit•11.,
If 1u ,, S,1(-ial
and Sx,al Ret'l•l11111>11s,
.\lcd1<1 Hm•r Had .\fim>rl111f'1'rta11cc;
S1•aal,\fedia A rt' ,·11RchVtlllt Fact11r i11
R,·l, llit>IIS 329
 Contents xi

12.-1.2.3 Position 3--D11alis111· S,cial .\fedi,1Hm·e

·fool ,f rlic Ocmpy
Bfl11 a11l111p(irra111

.\for c111e111:
17,ere.-ireTcr/1m1l,i..:ical
arid
Son era/ Causestf the .\11we111e11t 330
12.-L2.-I Posirfo114-SNial .\ledi<larid
Ct1111mdiaa,w .-1Dialt.·ticalVieu· 331
. .-! 11,eorcrical
12.--1.3 Class[/icati1111
t~JS(}flal .\ledin
t:se i11tilt' Om1py .\l,we111e111 333
12.5. C,,11d11sit111 340

13. Digital Labour Kevwon:b

Bibliograplry 363
htda 389
 FIGURESAND TABLES

FIGURES
I. ~umber of articles published about Marx and Marxism chat are
hsted in the Social Sciences Citation Index in ten-year inten-als 11
1.2 Average number of annually pubhshed articles in ten-year
mten.ils about Marx and Marxism that are listed in the
Social Sciences Citation Index 12
The dialectical tnangle of subject-objec t-subJect ' object 29
The dialectical triangle of che \vork process: The system of
productive forces-the labour process as dialectical subject- object 30
The alienation process in capitalism 33
The dialectic of the One and che Many, Repulsion and Attracnon -H
The dialectic of the forms of ,.ilue as the dialectic of the One and
the Many H
:25 The dialectic of structu re and agency in chapter 1 of Marx's
Capital. Volume 1 46
, - The dialectic of quality. quantity and the measure 51
~ The dialectic of use-value. value and exchange-value 51
- 1 The accumulation els.--panded reproduction of capital 97
- 1 Capital accumulation on corporate social media plarfonm that
are based on targe ted advernsing l 02
- .:, The dialecoc of social media capital accumulation and ad\'ertising
clients' cap ital accumulation 111
:: l Development of the number of annually published articles on
the topic of the information society 136
.:: 'l A rypologr of informaoon society theon~ 138
.. Dimensions of the productive forces and the relaoons
of production 161
xiv ,figures and Tables

9.1 The drvelopment of Google\ profit,

11.1 The 11J..tom1auo11 process a, work pn>ec"
11.2 The alienation of digital l.lbour on corporJte ,oci,u 1m•diJ
12.1 U,er,· attitude, towards targeted adYem,ements in the
re,eJrch pruJec, '"',0nal networkmg s1tc, m the 5urvt"tlfanre
,oc·1e~··· (hrrp ,m3 ua.at) 297
12.2 D11ne1mo1b of tht• ronunorh 300
12.3 Dunemions of a ronm1on,-b. 1,eti Imcrnc•t (ron111101l\net) 301
12.4 A model of prott·,t, and revolut1ons and the role of cn,e-,.
tht• media. Kkol~•y and polmc,

TABLES
2.1 i'.\larx'.. de:,rnpnon of tht· d-.:.J character of t.ip1tal1S111 36
J.1 Tht· controwr,y between "- It bolas G,unhJm and
Lm-rence Gro,,berg 61
-t.l PkJ,ures m four mode, of ,ooet\· (human e:,,enn:. ,ouery wuh
scarcity. ch;,1cal c.1p1talN11.c.ip1talNn m the- age of corporate
social media) 127
5.1 Tr.1mnarionalit\· of the world', largest informational TNC~
n: .,r2008) 1-U
52 '>h.,:-eoflow-pa1d 10b, and wage mequali~· m selt>cted
n>untnes 1-t9
6.1 T ht' huma n ,uhJect"~ me.m, of subsi,te11ce/ rcproduct1o n 160
6.2 Three mode, oforg-anizarion of the pni,lucm·e force, 161
6.3 Tht> main form, of ownel"'lllp in ,.iriotb modes of production 163
6.-t ;\ 1.~iormetab 111 the ICT indu,cry 171
7 .1 The dcwlopmt'nt of ICT hardware production m Chm a 18-1-
7 .2 IC l h.u-d,\.ire producoon 111 China m 2011 18-4
S. l '>h.,l"t'of employment m three ,ector, of the Indian
t·co11omy in 20 IO 20 l
8.2 Emp loyment in the Ind.tJn ,ofiwa.re mdtMn 203
9.1 Emplo~1nem number.. m ,t•k·nt>d mdu,tnt"- 111 Sama CIJrJ County 215
9.2 .-\,·C'rJgeannu.,l w.tgt"- 111 ,elt-cted mdu,mc-- 111 S.1maClarJ
Coun~: m uSS 216
9.3 Employment ,h.1re, (m n,;,)of ,dected mdu,tne, m mc.i.l
t>mploymem 111 '>J11taClarJ County 217
9.4 '>ii.,re of ,deat'd mdu,trn.·, 11 the GDP of prl\.!tt' mdmtry m
t~1e '>.inJosc-Sunnv\'ale-S ..m 1 Clara metropolitan area/
the total pn,·.m· US econom~ 219
9.5 Dl·,·elopmem of J\·erage annual wage, (in LlSS) 111 ,pecitic
occup.itton, 111 Cahtorm.i 221
 Figures and Tables xv

9.6 Google\ rank.in?;in the list of the largest public companies

in the world 223
9.7 A selection of typical conunents of Google employees about
working hours 224
11.1 The subject. obJect and subject-obJect of cognitfre.
conunwucati\-e and cooperatin: work 248
11.2 Three forms of digital ,vork on social media 252
11.3 Pleasures m four modes of society (hmn,m essence, society
with scarcity. classical capitalism. capitalism in rhe age
of Facebook) 269
12.1 Aspects of the product:1.\-eforces and relatiorulups of production
in the digital media industry's dinsion oflabour 288
12.2 Users' amrudes towards targeted ad\·erti.semenrs in the research
project ''Social networking sires in the sun ·eillance society "
(http:/ :ms3.un.ar) 298
12 3 Share of suryey respondents who used various media for
obtai1ung news about Occupy dun.ng a period of one month 334
12.4 A classification of the Occupy moYemenc·s social media use 335
1
INTRODUCTION

...• 1. The Need for Studying Digital Labour

'W.:':v:g;i
~waya . .in enslawd miner m North K.i\U (Democr.mc Republic of
---,.-~ ., who extract,, nuner.ih that are needed for the manufacttmng of lap-
.i::d mobile phone5. deKrib6 his work in the followmg ,,-ay: "A, you rn1wl
===~ the tiny hole, usmg your anm and fingers to ,rratch. there\ not enough
~ t:> dig properly and you get badly grazed all over. And then. when YOU
.:_____ come b.ick out ,nth the ca~mente. the ,oldier; are w,uong to grab
..c g:=:potnt . \V}uch meam YOUha,·e notlung to buy food with , ~o we're al-
=zr)·" (Fumwatch 2Uff.,. 20). A Clune,e engmeer at Foxconn Shenzhen.
~ .:.::::aputer- and mobile phones that are ,old by We,tern compames are .a--
c:r:t:Y:: rn-s, "\t/e produced the first gener.ioon 1Pad.\Ve were bu,y throughout
--ccc:h period and had to work on Sundays. We only had a ~t da,· ew11 l J
..:::: there \\':h no OYerrime prenuum for \\·eekend,. Working for 12 hour,
- ~ nude me exhamted" (SACOM 2010. 7). In Silicon Valley. a Cam -
- ICr mformarion and commurucanom teclu10loro _ a,,embler expo,ed
~cc reporo.. "I talked to my co-worker, who felt the -.a.meway
_._ bm they ne,·er brought it up. out of fear of lming their JOb.. (Pellow
- 1. 139). Moh.in. a project manager m tht• Indian som\-arc mdumy
"--> und-30s. e::-..-plaim.
"\~'ork take, .1 pnorm [ .. ] The area occupied
.::idoth~ keep, rtduang" :D'\\ello and Salm· :?Off,.179 .Another
~™ ;ugue.. ··somenmcs you ~tart at 8 am and then fomh at 10-11
-~ a ~'ttk. And anynmc you can be called. [ . ) Also you don't deYdop
- ibid.). A 50ftware engmeer at Google dc,cnbes the work.mg mua-
=cons.-Becau,e of the large m1ounts of benefits (such .1, free food, )
c, be an w1~d rule that employees are expected to work longer
2 Introduction

hours ..i\t.my pt"ople work mort" than S hour, a d.iy .md then will be on em.ul or
work for a couple houl' ac home. at 111ghta, wdl (or on tht· weeken,b). It may
bt" hard to perfi.mn extremely well \\"1th a good worklhii.· b.tlaJJCt'.:\d\"JCl' to
Semor .\lanagcmenr-Gl\'e cngmeer~ more freedom to use 2()(1.., mne to work
on cool proJe(·t, \nthout the ,tre,s ofh.1nng to do 1100,owork .. (www.gla,,Joor.
com).The :\m,uon .\kcha.tul·al Turk ts a ··markt"tplan· for work .. that "gt\·c, hu,i -
nes,e- Jud dewloper, accc" to an on-dem.mJ. ,calabk• workforce \Vorker< ,den
from thousand, ofta,b .md work wht•ne\-er It 1, com·emem·· (www .mturk.,om).
Chem, can adwm,e on tht' plattonn that they lool.: for ct"rtain ,ervice, for a
certam \\·age, to \Yh1ch tho,e who \\'JIit to pt"rform them can respond onhnt'. It
the deal come, about. then cht· worker perform, the ca,k and ,ubmic, the re,u.lt to
the chem onlme. The work ta,h ahmM exdtMn:ly mvoln• 111.formanonalwork .
A 5earch for ,peC.'chtramcnption cash (rnndm tl'd on '\Jon:mher 20. 21)11) re,ulted
111thret• ta,k, chat had (1.fone a,sume, chat 1t take-- c)t 1 a\·erage ,1..,
hours of \\, ,rk
tune to tran,a1be one hour of mternew tune) .m hourly wage of (a'. t;'>S➔,
(b C"SS-tand (c C"SS., In coutrast. typical prufrs,ional tramcriptton ,ernce, ,l· g.
\\,\,Y.tingcm~'-t:ypmg .co.uk/pnces_and_rum.uounJ.hnn. www .fr.u1khn-,qu.1re.
comlcr.imcnpnon _per_line.ht:m) charge approx.un.it:clyUSS! 5-S15 per hour.
ln Februar\' 20U. the German public ,er\"l,e ,caw ,n br-, 1dcascer:\RD .urcd
the documentary .411,_i:c/1~/crt!Lcil1L1rbi:1m (.\t mcrn ! Contr.ict work -
bci ,'1111,1.:1'11
er'\ ac Amazon). The 111\'e--tig-.im-c
reporters Diana lob) .md Pt·ter Onneken doc-
umented char Amazon Genuany employ, 3.000 mumgram, (from t•.g. Pol.1nd.
Rornama. Sp<1m.Htmgary and other coumrie,) a, contract worker, in its ware-
hou,e They ,howed chat:these workt'I' are extn·mdy low-p,ud. hw 111 group, of
,,x or ,e\-cn workers who do not kno\\' each ocher in small cottage,, where m·o
people ,h.ire nny bedrooms .The\ only get temporary conrran, and .ire employed
by temp agenne, . The contralC, are wrmen 111 German. although rn.111yworkers
do not under,tand elm language On one day, the wan•hom,c-\\·orker, olten run
up co 17 ktlomc.-t:res."hich can negam·dy impact thc.-irteer and ,kin.The.- workers
do not ,ee and ,1gn tilt' comran beforl" tl1ey rome to Germany and then often
ha\-e to find out that they earn l~s than 1111tially promi,ed. Ont" contract shown
in the documentary ,pt"citie, €8.51 per hour .• 1lthough the worker was 1rurially
pronm<."d€9.6S. wluch 1, 12% more. These wnrkel' can be lured .ind fired a,
:\nuzon wi.,he,. Tradt· uruon ,ecretary Heinn Reimann (with trade union \'er
di) de,cnbe, the-.e Amazon workers a, "workrr, without rights .. (10:41- h):46).
A dnwr ,a.id ..Temp work.[ .. ] I am not m favour of thi, ,la\'e trade. f. )They earn
,o little mone\. partly they h.we to bt·g for coltee m the cantt•en .. (l ➔ :20-l-t:J3).
"ielnn.1. J. Spani,h contract worker. '>lid.·'It i, hke a machine. \1;.'earc.-a cog m
elm ma,hme .. _17:12-17:16).The documentary pre,entrd footage chat mdic.1ted
.'\.mazon \ supposed e\~1,ion of paymg ,ocial ,t•curiry caxe-, for their em pl owe,.
The workers ha,·e co l"lllnlUte long dt~tance, t:o their workplace in owrcrowded
bu\es ,upphed lw Am,1zon. Ofren thc.-ywait ,111dconunute for hours . If the bu,
arn\·e, :.1te.the\ face wage deducnon,. The worker- ran br ,omrolled any nme.
 Introduction 3

t'\'en outside of the workplace, and there are security guards patrolling the hous-
ing e;tates. their dining rooms. and the factory premises. The ARD investi.gatl\'e
-~urnalists show that there are security forces from the H.E.S.S. comp.my and that
~ritv guards act and look like a paramilitary force. entering ,Yorkers' homes
while they are not there to control them by taking pictures. One worker says.
"'\Vhen we eat. they are always there.( ... ] They enter the houses whtle the people
.ue not there and also when the people sleep or take a shower·· (19:09-19:25).
Another one reports that the guards argue, "This is our house. (. .. ] You must
do what we sar And here we are like the police" (19:25-19:38). The reporters
sh<r-'·
that some security guards wear clothes from Thor Steinar. a neo-Na.zi brand.
H.E S-5.stands for Hensel European Security Services. (Rudolf Hess \VasHitler's
<kfu.ty _ H.E.S.S. sells. according to the ARD documentary , clothes that are con-
meredto be right-wing extremm brands in Germany (Commando Industries}.
The documentary shows that some of the H.E.S.S. employees and management
pcnonnel are part of the hooligan scene or have circles of right-wing extrem-
s mends. In the days after the documentary was aired on ARD (February 13).
:i.:IlOStC\·ery minute somebody posted a protest message on Amazon's Facebook
f'½-e. Some example comments are: "Nazis, conditions like in a modern labour
c::.:=p,unlimited greed for profits. BE ASHAMED!"~ "Modern slavery. but the
=n ming for you is that your profits are doing ,.,·ell''' ''Shan1e on you. bloody
~-tls! you'll never have my and my friends' money! 1 hope you'll go on default
~- qwckly!" "Profits that are based on a new form of sla,·ery mould be con-
'::SatedJust like profits from drug trafficking!"•
Ub:k.Shop.Play is an online plarform o,...-ned by CBS Outdoor Limited. It
~ its purpose in me following way:

We are interested in your ideas. opinions, behaviour and general feedback

on a variety of topics . One week we may send you sun·eys a.slang how you
fed about topics in the news at the moment. The next. ,.._ ·e might ask you
how often you drink coffee. what brands you buy a11d\\"hich coffee shop
you prefer. The week after that, it might be a SUT\'C) ' about new technology,
which gadgets you own and why you bought them,[ .. .] CBS Outdoor
u-orkwith lots of big brands, telling them how to best advertise and market
thor products and sen;cc-s to consumers. [... ] Sometimes. the research
c= at CBS Outdoor will use survey results co create material for our sales
t'e;uru to present to these brands. Other times we'll be using the results in-
ttrn.11.h-.
to better infom1 our company about urban audiences. Occasionally
v.-e =r post survey results on Twitter or Facebook. [. .. JWhen ,ve were
~~g up work .shop.pla~:we thought long and hard about how to reward
our members. \Ve developed a list of prizes that we chink will appeal to
=)-one--such as cinema and theatre tickets. shopping \'Ouchers, magazine
s..h.scri.pnons and guidebooks to UK cities. From rime to time there will
.t:sobe bigger prizes up for grabs, such as nights aw·ayat a top hotel-and
4 Introduction

,omerunt"' there m,1y be one pnzt·. while other, there m.1y be IO or more.
(work,hopplay. co. uk. acce"cd February 17. 20 U)

Farebook h.h a,ked users to cran,late m ,ue mto other l.mgu.1ge, ,nthout pay-
ment. Tran,lanon i, crowd,ourrc.·d co u,ers . Javier Oln·an. head of Growth. En-
gagement. Mobtle Adoptton at F.1rebook. ,cc\ user-gencr,ned pbtform tran,lanon
a, ..,oor· became Fan:book\ goal 1, to ..have one day evervbodv on the planet on
Fan·book'" t:\1S",1K' 200S).

\".ilennn .\1aoa,. 29. a Californian who tcache, Engl1,h m Seoul. South

Korea. ha, rnlumt·cred 111 the pa,t to tran,l,1ce for the nonprotit Internet
encyclopedia\\ 1kipt-diabut ,aid he won ·c do it for Facebook . ·· [W1kipedia
is] .m altn11,rit".ch.irirable. informanon-,haring. don.mon-,upported came ...
.\1aoa, told The A,,ociated Pn_•,,111 a Facebook me,--agc. --F.icebook " not.
Therefore. people ,hould not bt· cncked mto don.icing tht·1r nme and ene11-,•y
co a mulnnull1on-doll.lr company ,o thJt the comp.1ny can make millions
more-at k.M not \\;thout ,ome type ot compensanon ." (ibid. )

The,t• ex;1mpk.,,outline ,·anou, fonn, of labour a,,onat~i w:ith the JCT 111-
dmtry. They d.llfcr 111 amount m regard to the lt.-,·el,of papuem: ht"alth ri,k,:
phy,ical , 1deolog1eal.ind ,ocial vmlence: ,ere-,: free rime: O\·ercime: and the fonns
of coeroon ,md t-omrol the worker, are experiencing. but all ha\·e in common
that human lahotu-pO\wr i, exploited in a way th,1t monetarily benetib ICT
corpor.1t101h and h,h neg-.iow impact, on tht" hvt",. bodit", or nunds of worker,.
The- fonm of labour de-.lnbed m chi, book are all type-, of dig1tal labour because
they = part of .1 collectiw work force that 1, n·qwred for the cxistt·nce. usage
and applicanon of digital media. \Vhat dctine, them i~ not a common type of oc-
t-up,mon. but rather the mdu,cry they coutnbuce to and III which capital t"xplom
them. The kind of detirncion one choo,e, of cat~orit"' ,uch a, digital labour or
\;cmal work. thc:ir degn:-e of indm1nty or exdu,1\-it\'. are fiN and fon·mo,t po-
litical choice,. The appro.1Chtakt"n in tlus book ath-oc.ite, a broad undt"r.;tanding
of diEcit,tll.1bour ba,ed on ,111 industry rather than ,Ill Ol-cupaoon deti.ninon 111
ordt"r to ,ere,, the: conunonahty of explo1tanon. capital as the common ent·mv of
a broad range of workers and the need to globalize and network ,truggles m
ot'lkr to overcome the rule of c.1p1tafom.Some: of the workeh dc,cnbc:d m th1~
book art· not Just e,plo1ted by digital med1.1 c,1p1t.1I.but al,o and ,omt"time,
1,
,1multancotl\ly by other fonth of capital . It then a matter of d~ree to which
e"",:emthese fom15 oflabour are digital l.tbour and ,imultaneou~ly other forms of
labour . If wt· imagine a company with job rotanon so that cad1 worker on an~r-
agc: assc:mblt",laptop, for 50",., of hi, lhcr work nme .md car\ for the: ocht•r half
of the ome, a worker 111 th!~ factory 1, a digital worker for 5 (
1
S he 1, howewr
an mdu,tnal worker for l 1- 10% bcc-au,r tht• content of both manufacturing: acti\"l-
tie, 1, the indu,tnal .1s,emblage of component~ into rommotucie~. The different
 Introduction 5

fomis of digual labour are connected in an internaaonal diYision of digi-

tal labour (IDDL). m wluch all labour neces.sary for the existence, usage and
·l?Phcation of digital meclia 1, •·disconnected. isolated [ ... ]. carried on Side by
Side .. and ossified "into a systematic ,fo-ision·· (Marx 1867c. 456). Studies
cf the information economy. or what ,ome term the creaa,-e or cultural m-
~ies. have been dominated by the capital side of the analySis. \,·hereas
the labour side has been rather nus.sing. In this context. Nicholas Garnham
.ilie.dy asserted in 1990 that ·'the bibliography on the producers of culture 1,
sandalously empty" (Garnham 1990. 12) and that there is a focus on the analy-
StS of media barons and their comparues. Ten years later. he saw tlus problem
as rer,iscing: "The problem of media producers has been neglected m recent
IIll!dia and Cultural Studies-indeed m social theory generally-because of the
~ral hngwstic rum and the supposed death of the author that has accompanied
ILifme author does not exist or has no intentional pO\Yer.why study her or !um;"
Carnham2000a. 8-l). Again ten years later. Vincent Mosco (2011. 230) argued
~ "bbour remains the bhnd spot of couunwtication and Cultural Studies" and
t::zt ·therefore "labour needs co be placed high on the agenda or proJects for the
c:o~wal of Cultural Studies··. A paracular problem of contemporary media and
..:.:c:murucation studies 1s the strong focus on the capital side of the creative and
~ economy and the neglect of the labour side. Richard Maxwell and Toby
~ make a similar assessment: "Most wnangs in media studies constrict the
· • • of media labor such that the industry ma,·ens [... ] define production. Tlus
====s the growth ideology and apolitical enchanm1ent \\-ith media technologies
!i::cnd m most trade publications. entertainment news outlets. and fan culture"
~·ell and Miller 2012. 16). They argue for "critical scholarship into media
~- ~t com1ders "the physical nature of work and what it does to people
zx! che ennronment .. (ibid.). Vicki Ma,-er. Miranda J. Banks and John Thornton
L..t......~ (2009. -t) speak m tlus context of the need for media production smd-
11:l tm: "take the liYed realities of people im·oh-ed in in media producnon as the

~ for theorizing production as culture". Juliet \l?ebster (2011. 2) obserws

.....
-=:: a s.'1..ldyofICT's role 111 society has often been

;wded by pragmatism rather than by social critique. In many countries.

ditte i~ and has been for some t\\ ·enty or more years. a discernible body
of work which 1s concerned primarily with mterpreting technological m -
CO\,nons as s.ocially neutral processe,; or ,\·ith the practicaliues of ICT
i:mplementation. There are strong pressures on researchers, particularly in
.a conte:\., of economic crisis and re.tructuring . ro retreat into tlus type
cf work. In tlus context. critical social rese-arch often becomes displaced
b- re-search which is driYen by an o,·er - optintistic technological agenda.
R=n:hers find they have to sllf\-i,·e in a world where economic gro\\·th
.::id comtant innm-ation are the leim1otifs underlymg not only economic
t:c: social policy.
6 Introduction

She calls for resisting thc--e tendem.;es and for engaged IC-Ts and ,onery re-
sean:h that 1s doing re-.earch and doing pohric, and " a form of acrin,m. The w5k
of this book 1s to de,·elop a cnt:1cal theorization of \Ome of the labour performed
m the capitalm ICT mdusrrv. The owrall que,oon of the book 1, \\ hat i- digital
labour and how can m workmg condmom best be understood? For prondmg
,mswers. more fundamental quesoom need to be a,ked: \~'hat 1s labour? \Vhat
1s econormc v.Jue:: How doe, labour create value; How 1, labour changing m
the age of computer,. the Internet and "sonal media"' such a, Facebook. Google.
You Tube andTwmer;: Labour md econonuc ,-aiue are mherendv connected La-
bour takes place 111 certain ,paces and 1s spent dunng certain rime penods. Time
and ,p.lCe a.re crucial dimem1ons oflabour D1,cussion, about the sparial change,,
and sp,uia.l di,embeddmg of labour ha,·e been discu"ed with concepts ,ta:h ,b
!,dobahz,nion (see Fuchs 2003. Ritzer and Atalay 20 I0). out,ourcing. offihonng
;md global / mternaoonal din,1on of labour (Grossm.in 148, '. :vlies 1986 Glo-
balizanon ha) been theorized as ru11e-\pace-compre"1on (Harvey 1989. timdess
time and spaceless sp.ice ,Ca,tells 1996) and a, tll11e-,pace di,ta.nnanon (Giddens
1990). This ,hows that nme and space are cruna.l dunensiom of societal changes.
G1\'e11that labour is .it the he.ire of the economy . both rime and span.· are crucial
for understanding labour. The labour needed for the producnon of a t·ertam com-
modirv 1s m many ca\es not confined to smgle places. but t.ike,, pl.ice in many
mrerconnected space-. that are diffu,ed around the globe ,o that capttal mt" to
ffillllnuse ln\'esonem costs for l.ibour and re-.ource,, and to ma..,im.i,e profit\ . But
l.ibour not only has spatial a,pecn;. 1t aha t.ikC\ place in time. wh.ich 1s obnom
when talking .i.bout \\'Orking time. tree rime. ,pare rime. workmg hour;. produc-
tion tune. c1rculaoon rime. di,triburion rune. the rurno,·er time of capit,ll. the
.iccelerarion of producnon or the mten,ificaoon of work.
Labour rime 1s so crucial for capit.ilism became labour-power h orgamzed
as a commodity and therefore eYerv ,econd of labour co,t, money . Thi, 1, the
reason why c.ip1tal h:1sthe interest to make workers work a, long .i, possible for
as litde wage, a~ possible and to make them labour as inte1Nvely a, possible ,o
that the lughe-.t po,,1ble profit i which 1s the outcome of unpaid labour rune, can
be aclue,·ed. Value 111 a Marxi,t appro.ich (Marx·, labour theory of ,·alue) 1, the
amount of performed labour hours that are needed for the producnon of a certain
commodity. There 1> an mdindua.l labour rime for the producnon of e\·en ,ingle
commodity that 1sdifficult to measure. \\'hat matters econonucally 1, therefore the
a,·erage labour ume that is ,pent durmg a certain time penl>d (such .i, one war1
for producing a conunodir, . Aver.ige labour ,·aluC\ can he calculated for rnm-
modity production in one comp.my. a group of com pa mes. an entire 111dustn;m a
country or inremauonally. Capital stri,·e-- to reduce the ,-aiue of a couunod1ty m
order to increa,e protit,.A decrease of the value ofa commodity mean, a speed-up
of production (1.e.the -..me labour nme that costs a certain amount ot money will
mddenly produce a higher munber oi the -.ame conunodit): although the IJhour
co,ts h.ive not 111crea,ed.wluch allow, .iccwnulanng more profit per time mut) .
 Introduction 7

The outlined ex.imples show the imporunce of labour ome for the !CT in-
ci:Istn· Sl.,·e mineral worker. like Muhanga Kawaya work at gunpomt ";th the
thtt.it ,,fbemg killed. which makes them work long hour, for low or no wage~
so that a maximum of labour mne remaim unpaid. The workers at Foxconn an-
11,arlcin!: long hour-. and unpaid o,·erome \O that Apple and other !CT comparue,
~ce labour co,c-,. Foxcorm workers ha,·e relaowly low wage, and work very
long houn. Foxconn mes to lengthen the workmg d.iy in order to mcrea,e the
mm of hours that 1, unpaid. !CT assemblen m Silicon \'illev. who are predom.i-
c:nl} · female imnugr,m~. have quite comp.irable labour condinom. and many of
oan are exposed during working hours to to.xic substance,. In the Indian soft-
-= mdu~try and at Google. ,o!tware engineer> are overworked. They work ,·ery
iong hours and do not ha,·e mut·h time for hobbies. relaxmg. friend, and family.
Sc.-frn..re dC\·eloper,,at Google. Ill India and 111 other countnes are lug:hh· ,tressed
becausethey work m project-ba,ed software engineering ,nth !ugh ome pressure.
1bnr lifetime tend, to become labour tune. The Amazon Mechanical Turk 1s ,1
cethod of getting work done m the same rime as in the case of regular employ-
CJClt by irregular forms of labour that .lre cheaper. It help, comp.uue, to fmd
~ who ,vork for the ome a regular emplm:ee would take for a certain task.
be for a 10\ver p,tpnent. The idea 1s to crowd\oun:e work over the Internet m
crdcrto reduce ro,c,. that i,. to pay less for the same labour rune as under regular
~g condition, . The temporary worker-. .it :\m.azon Germam h.1w tempo-
~ hm1ted contract\, which put them under pressure to accept and not co resN
i:::r poor working conditions because they are afraid oflo,mg their Jobs. Many of
Cl:!Il come from countries that were hard lut b,· the economic cris1,. where they
.:r bang unemplo~1nem. Cn,is dnves them mto accepnng work under early
ll:lldm:r:talconditions. Paranubcai:· control ,hould make the employee- work more
z:d USterduring the work time. It aims at an 111tens1ficat1on of work. Low wages
n cemp work.en who are facing economic hardship means that Amazon can
:::.k:cmore profit dun m emplopnem relatton, chat have collecriw bargaining.
=Co:tn-c wage .1grecmen~ ai1d unionization. Time plays an imponam role in tlu,
a;;m:plem the form of msecure temporary emplo~1nent. work tune 1mensilica-
::a::i md the lowering ofhour!Y \\.1ges.
b rerum for their efforts to partiapate 111 surwys who,e re,ulc.; arc sold a,
.::x::::noditi~. u,e1' of\Vork.Shop.Play can ,,111pnze, ,uch .I\ cinema .md theatre
::i:izu..shopping vouchers and ,penal offen. Of cour~e only a few w111:most of
ce work is completely unremunerated .The idea of the Work.Shop . Play platform
a USCI, work m their free time and thereby ha,·e the chance to win rnucher-.

z:c goods that enable shoppmg. emertammem .ind play. Playing on ,ocial medi.1
:ic:cmcs actual work and the pronuse is that users in return get opponumties for
lib:fFlng and more play.~'ork Shop.Play extend, the cap1t.tl1St logic of commod1-
=i:s .:xi comumption to the home and pl.i,· ome . The boundanes between work
.cc.~ - as well as between work nrne and free/ play tune are hqmd on \Vork .
~ ·-Facebook translaoom are outsourced user work .The user-. .ire expected
8 Introduction

to perform the cranslanon ,,,thout remuneranon. The 1dt•a1, to traneform usai::e

time into work tune . The lengthening of work..ingd.1~:unp.ud work.mg time,. the
mtem1ficanon of work rune hy fa~cM Sel·unry forces. overwork. ~pan· nme a,
lahour time. ovemme--the examples ,how that lahour ame 1sa crucial aspect of
the ca.piral1,tICT mdu,tl') :
The u,k of this book 1s to better understand labour and value generanon in
the context of d1gnal media . Chapter, 3 and ➔ contextualize d1g1tal lahour Ill
the acadenuc landscape : Chapter 3 shows how the field of comempor..n Cul
rural Stu die, is pos1t1oning itself to"~ud, Karl Marx\ worh and qudym!? labour
and cap1tah,rn. Chapter ➔ de.ii, wuh the rdl'\ ·,mce of Dall.,, Smnhe\ work for
understanding digital labour Smythe was the founding figure of the field of
crmcal polmcal economy of med.ta .md n1mmu111caaon. .ind he elahor.ued a
labour theory of the med ia that see, newmg / readmg . hstcmng ume on com-
meroal med.ta a, audience lahour th.,t creatl'' ,·alm·. He l omed Ill th1, (Ontext
the nonon ofthl' ,mdtence commod1ty.Tlm ,1ppro,Kh has in the comext of the
digital labour dehate gamed new rde,-ann· . Chapter 3 contextualize, dig1tal
labour m the debate on the concept of the mform.mon ,ooety. It asks whether
we li,·e in capitahm1 or an information sonc-ty. Chapters ()-11 analy,e variou,
forms of labour 111 the unernat1onal d1n,10n of d1g1ta1lahour (IDDL ) Ill ordl·r
to 1ntroducl' conaprs for a dig1tal labour theory -toolbox and ,how ex,unple,
of how to apply ,uch theorl'tJCal categories. Chapter 6 deal- wtth slaw worker,
in Africa who extract mineral\ that form the phv,Kal foundation of lapcop,.
computer,. mobile phones and othn ICT,. Ch.1pter 7 !ooh .it the work-
ing condit1om 111 Chme,e hardware a,semblage. ,pt>cific,1llythl' s1tu.1t1011 111
Foxronn f.Ktone, Chapter S di,cu"e' tht· lahour condmon, of Indian soti:-
wan· engmeers. Chapter 9 analyses work Ill S1hcon Valkv. espenally software
l'ngmeenng at Google- Chapter 10 looks at precanous sernce work with thl'
help of the example of call centre work . Chapter 11 focuses on tht· unp,ud
digital labour of Internet pro,umer, 1Mng rhe example of Fact>book. In order
to a,·01d nmunder,tand111gs. I want to make dear that each of the chapters 6-1 I
doe, not define concept, that are spt·cific for only one form of digital labour .
The task 1, rather to mtroduce ;1mulnf.icetc-d conceptual d1g1tallabour theory-
toolhox with theoretical notions such as .1b,olute and relatt\"C',urplu,-value
productHlll. conunod1t) feti-hmn, formal and real ,ub,umpnon. hou,ewuiz.1-
uon. labour ari,tocracy. mode, of production. play labour. productiw force,.
pro,uml'r, commodificatton. ,Li,·ef)·. the new unpenahsm. prim1t1,·e accumula-
non. etc. Chapter, 6-11 show example, of how to .1pply these care-gone,. The,t•
chapters do not claim that a ,pecifir concept 1s only apphcable to one of the
speoficallv discu"ed fonm, of labour . I g1w examples of how co apply the,e
concept, with the help of ca,e ,rud1e,. Tht· poinr i, that .\1arx\ \Yriting:, and
Milrxist theory proY1dt· a nch category ,y,tem dtJt can be applied for crm-
cally undemanding dtg1tal labour and other form, oflabour. Spedfic workm!!
cond1tiom ofspeoti.c rype, ofd1gual labour are lu,toncal and dp1J.mK. they do
 Introduction 9

not stay fixed. but change ,\;th the development and crises of capitalism. The
first task for developing a digital labour theory-toolbox that needs to be un-
denaken and to which tlus book contributes is therefore to introduce concepts
:md to show examples of how to apply them. Chapter 12 draws conclusions
from the preceding analysis and points out aspects of resistance against the
ex1>loitation of digital labour. It discusses in this context especially the Occupy
mo,·ement as a new working-class movement and its use of the Internet and
social media.
The approach taken in this book for critically theorizing and ex1>lairungso-
aal media and digital labour 1sgrounded m the works of Karl Marx. Chapter 2
outlines as theoretical framework important concepts of Marx's theory. But why
IS Marx 's theory a suitable frame,vork? This question requires further discussion .

1.2. The Disappearance and Return of Karl Marx

..Marx makes a comeback" (S1'£'11ska Dagblader, October 1"".2008).
--crunch resurrects Marx" (The lndependem, October 17. 2008).
"Cnsis allows us to reconsider left-,vmg ideas" (TI1e IrishTimes, October 18.
2008).
".\1arx exhumed. capitalism buried" (Sydney .\1,m1i11i Herald. October 23.
2008) .
...\1arx Renaissance" (KoreaTimes, January 1. 2009) .
"Was Marx Right All Along?" (11,e El'miit~ Srand,mf, March 30. 2009) .
"".\1arx is fashionable agam', declares Jorn Schurrumpf. head of the Ber-
lin publishing house Dietz. wluch brings out the \\"Orks of Marx and his
collaborator Friedrich Engels . Sales have trebled-albeit from a pretty low
level--since 2005 and have soared since the summer. [... ] The Archbishop
or· Canterbury, Rowan \Villi.ams.ga,·e hun a decent re,-iew last month: 'Marx
long ago observed the way in which unbridled capitalism became a kind
of mythology. ascribing real.tty,power and agency to things that had no life
m themselves'. £\ ·en the Pope has put in a good word for the old atheist-
pr.usmg his 'great analytical skill"' (11,eTimes, "Financial Crisis Gives Added
Capital to Marx's Writings", October 20. 2008}.
..~o one claims that we 're all Marxists now but I do think the old boy de-
serves some credit for noticing that 'it's the economy. stupid' and that many
of the apparently omniscient otans who ascend the commanding heights of
the economy are not so much stupid as downright unbecilic. drin·n by a mad
cq,lo1tative greed that threatens us all. Marx's work is not holy writ , despite
the stri,i.ngs of some disaples to present it as such" (11,e E1't'Tl111gSrm,dard,
-U~ Marx Righ t All Along?", March 30, 2009).
·KarI Marx is back . That. at least. is the verdict of publishers and bookshops
m Germany who say that his works are fl)-ing otfthe she!Yes"{TI1eGu,mfim,.
-&oklovers Turn to Karl Marx as Financial Crisis Bites in Germany ... Octo-
ber · 5. 2008).
10 Introduction

"Pohcy maker. ,trugglmg to undeNand the bJrrage oi fin.mn.tl pJmcs. pru-

te,t, ,md other 1lh afBinmg the world would do wdl to ,tudy the works of
a long-deJd econonu,c: Karl .\1arx. The ,ooner they recogiuzc we·re facmg
a once-111-a-hfenme cn,h of cap1tah,m. the better equipped the, will be to
m,111Jgea w ..1yout of it"' (Bt.,,,,n/,e~~B11.<i11c;;;;
H i·ck. ·•Giw KJrl .\larx a Chann·
co \.1ve the ~'orld Economy··.Au~'l.ht 28.2011).
T "'' mag-azinl' showed ,\1Jrx on 1esl"O\"eron February 2. 2009. and asked
in rl--:,pectto the cn,1, ..\Vhac would Marx chmk?" In the cowr ,tory. ~1arx
wa, pre,emed ,I\ the , ..w1our of capit..iliilll.rnd was therl·b,· mutilatt•d beyond
nxognition; "Rcthink.111g.\tux .•A,, we work out how to s.1,·ecapit.tlNn. it',
worth ,mdpng the sy,tem\ greace,c cnoc·· Clime .\I.1g..1:: •. F ,•,>;1e, Fl·brua.ry2.
2009).

The,c new, chppmg,;, mdKate that wnh che m·,,· global crisis of capicali,m.
we set'lll to han: entered new .\1a.rxian nmes. Th.it there 1, suddenly J su.rgmg
imere,t III Karl l\1Jrx\ work i, an indication for the pers1stenn• of CJpit.tlism.da,,
confun, Jnd crm, At the same tune. the boutgt'o1, pres, tne-- to Imm :-.tan: and
to ,titk Im theory by interpreting .\1arx as the new ~\·1our of cap1t.1hm1.Om·
,hould remember that he ,, ·a~ not only ,t brilliant .m..tly,t of cap1t.tl1'111,
he wa5 aho
che ,m.mgl"-t lTlfll of capnah,m rn hi, rune:

In \hort. che Commum,ts eYerywhere support e,-ery re\·olutiorury mo\·c-

mem aga11N the ex1,nng social and poliuctl order of thing.... In all the,e
mon~mem,. they bring to the from. a, the leading que,tion in each. che
property quc,non. no matter what m degree of den·lopmem at the tune .
fmally. ch<'yl,1bour C\'etywherr for the union and agreement of the dem-
onatic pamt·, of ill coumne,. Thie' Commumsts disdam to conce.tl their
view, and aum. They openly declare that their end:. l -lll be attamed only by
che fornble overthrow of all exi,ung sooal cond.mom. Let the ruhng cla~,es
tremble at a Conunmmtic re,·olution. The proleta.nam ha,·e nothing to lose
hut their ch.un,. Thev ha\-c a world to ,nu. ProleCJnam of .tll lands mute'
(l\.1,irxand Engels 1848/ 2004. 94)

In 1977. Da.11.i,Smythe pubh,hed Ju, ,emin.tl a.rod1: ··communicanon,:

Bhnchpot ofWe-,tt'rn ~1a.rxi,m·•(Smythl· 1977a). 111 which he argued chat \~'e-tern
,\1arx.i,m had not gin:11enough attennon to the complex rok of conunumcatiom
m cap1tali,m.Tlu.rry-fo·e year. ha,·e pa,,<'d and the n,e of ncoliberalim1 l"C'ulted111
a turn aw,1y&om an mtere,t 111 ,oo.al cb" and capit.tltsm. In,tead. 1t became tash-
t0nable to speak of globalizauon. po,tmodernism and. with the fall of C:onunurum1.
eYen the end oflu,tory. In e-,ence. :-..1arx1,mbecame the bhnd ,pot of.tll ,on.tl ,c1-
cnce. :\.\ar.-.1,tacadt·nucs were margmahzl·d and 1t \\-a, 111cre..1,111gly
career threaten-
mg for a voung Jl'Jdl·mic to take an cxpl1ntly l\.1arxistapproach to ,ooal analy,1,.
The dedimng interest in Man: and Mar.mm 1, nsuahzed m figim.•, 1.1 and
1.2. which ,how thl· number of aradc, m the ~oct..'. Soenrc, C1taaon Index chat
 Introduction 11

contain one of the keywords "Marx ... '"Marxist'" or··Marxism"' m the article topic
<lescnption and were published in the fiye time periods 1968-1977. 1978-1987.
1988-1997. 1998-2007 and 2008-.:Wp. Choo,ing che:,e periods allows one to
determine if there has been a change since the st-artof the new capitalist cnsis m
21)1)8and also makes sense because social uphea\'als in 1968 marked a break that
abo transformed academia.
Figure 1. 1 shows that there was a relativdy large academic article output about
.\larx in the period 1978-1987 (2.57-t). Given that the number of articles pub -
hshed increases histoncally, interest m the period l 968-19T also seems to ha,·e
been high . One can obserw a clear contraction of the output about articles focus-
mg on Marx in the periods 1988-1997 (1.-13) and 1998-W07 (l.127). Given the
earl.ter increase of published articles. this contraction is e,·en more pronounced .
This period has also been the time of the intensification of neoliberalism. the
commodification of eYerythmg (including public sen-ice commurucaoon m
m.my countries) and a strong turn towards poscmodernism and culturalism in the
social sciences.
There are multiple reasons for the disappearance of Marx:

The rise of neoliberal class struggle from above.

The commodilication of e,·erything. including the commons and public
uniYersities.
The rise of postmodernism.
The lack of trust in alternat1Yes.

TopicSearchfor "Marx or Marxist or Marxism" In SSCI

(January22, 2013)
l0QO -------------

2500 .._ ___ __ _

,,... l---- ----

1SCQ

....

FIGURE 1.1 '-<umber of articles published about :viarx and ~1arxism that are listed in the
Socul Snences Cit.ition Index in ten-year inten-als
12 Introduction

The low presence and mtens1ty of struggle,.

In a chmate of conservaO\·e backlash and commodi.ficaoon of acadenua. 1t
was not opportune and conducive for an acaderruc career and for academic
reputation to conduct M,mcist studies..

In figure 1.2. one can ,ee that the annual a,·erage number of amdes pubhshed
about Marx.1S1nin the period 2008-2012 (186) has increased Ill comp,1rimns to
the perio~ 1998-2007 (113 per year) and 198&-19<r 1-1 per year). Thi, m-
cU1mtance i) an empirical indicator of a renewed intere,t m :\larx ,md ~ 1.irxbm in
the social sciences. mo~t likely an effect of the new capitalist en'!,. The quesoon
i, whether and how this intere--t can be mstamed and materialized m in,tinitional
rransformauons.
Due to the rmng income gap between the nch and the poor. ,,,de,pread
prec.mou, labour and the new global capitali,c cmi,. neohberah,m 1' no longer
\een as common sense. The dark side of cap1tah,m. with m mmg le,·eb of das,
conflict. JS now recognized worldw1de. Eagleton '201 I note, that ne,·er has a
thinker been ,o crave,,oeda, Marx and demonstrates that the core of:\1arx\ work
runs contrary to conunon preJudice, about hi\ work. But sim:l· the start of the
global cap1talist cri,1, m 2f.,)8. a comiderable ,cholarly mtere,t in the works of
Marx has t.lken root Z.1zekargues that the ancagorusm, of contemporary c.ip1tal-
1sm m th e context of the ecological cnsis. mtdkctual property. biogenencs. new
fonm of .ip.irthe1d .ind Jum, ,ho,, that we ,till need the l\1arxian noaon of da,,
and that there i) a need to rene,, Marx.i,m and to defend 1t, lo,t cau,e,, in order to

Topic Search for •M;irx or Marxist or Marxism • In SSCI

(January 22 , 2013) : Annual Average Number of Articles

:r--=-
lJO +-

FIGURE1.2 .-\\'erage number oi mnu.illv pubh,hed .m1des in cen-ye..r intervals about ~farx
and l\1arxmn that an- listed in the Sooal ~nences Cit.ajon Index
 Introduction 13

"render problematic the all-too-easy liberal-democratic alternative" that is posed

by the new forms of a soft capitalism that pronuses bur fails to realize ideals like
paro.apation. self-organization. and cooperation (Zizek 2008. 6). MoreO\·er. Zizek
(2010b) argues that the recent world econonuc crisis has resulted in a renewed
interest in the Marxian critique of political economy. Hobsbawm (2011. 12-13)
argues that for w1derstanding the global din1ension of contemporary capitalism.
apitalism 's contradictions and crises and the existence of socio-economic m-
~uahty we "must ask Marx's questions" (13). "Economic and political liberal-
wn. smgly or in combination, cannot provide the solution to the problems of
die twenty-first century. Once again the time has come to take Marx seriously"
(Ibid., 419). Jarneson argues that global capitalism. "its crises and the catastrophes
appropriate to this present" and global unemployment show that "Marx remams
as inexhaustible as capital itself" (Jan1eson 2011. t) and make C.ipital, J,ofume 1
::\1.ar.x1867c) a most timely book.
"J\\onetary crises. independent of real crises or as an intensification of them.
~ tlll.1\·oidable'' in capitalism (Marx 1894. 649). For Marx. financial crises are
~ .1rn1dable by regulated financial markets or moral rules that limit greed
~use greed is for him a neces~ary structural feature of capitalism that de rives
t:mil the necessity of capitalists to accumulate ever more capital and to increase
fnlfit races or to perish. Competition between capitals and the need to expand
ucumulation result m attemptS to create "finanaal mnm-ations" tha t have a
~ ruk but allow very high short- time re,·enue rates. The fictitious value of
.:.::nmercial papers stands in no direc t relation wirh the actual \-alue created in
oe companies that is signified by the fictitious value. Financial bubbles are the
6a (i.e. share prices that do no t reflect the actual profitability and which fall
~- once a burst of the financial bubble 1s triggered by e,·ents that destroy
~ mvescors· expectations for high future returns). The new world economic
.:::?S:Sdut started in 2008 is the most ob,·ious reason for the return of the inter -
i:s: m Marx.

Thu ,lufi: is. however. multidin1ensional and has multiple causes:

The new world economic crisis has resulted in an increasing interest m the
dynamics and contradictions of capitalism and the notion of crisis.
;'.'l:eoliberalismand the precarization of work and life can best be analysed as
f!:::ruomenou class. exploitation and conm1odification.
:Xt'\\·sooal movements (the anti -corporate movement, global justice mm ·e-
c:::lC'm.Occupy mm·ement) ha,·e an interest m questions of class.
The nnancialization of the economy can be analysed ,,ith categories such as
oe new imperialism or fictitious capital.
Xt'\\· global wars bring about an interest in the category of imperialism.
Coctemporary re,-olutions and rebellions (such as the Arab Spnng) give at-
~on to the rele,-ance of reYolution. emanapation and liberation.
~ globalization discourse has been accompanied by discussions about
~capuahsm .
14 Introduction

The role ofmedtatizarion. !CT, ,md knowle~e work m contemporary cap1-

ulism \\';ls anricipm.·d b,· Marx's focu, on the general intdlen.
A whole gener-.nion of precariou,ly \\'orkmg unt\"Cr5ity,chobl', and ~tudenr-

lndicatiw of Jn increased interest 111 capitali,m a, an object of ,cudy in media and

commurucanon ,rudies 1, the orcum~cance that ,c\"eral ,peoal 1,,ue, ha\·e focmcd
on the role of cornmumcanon. meclia and culnue in the capttalN cns15:

rripleC: Commurucation. Cap1tah,m &: Cnnque (w,,·":mple-c.at)-Journal

for a Global Su,cainable Informanon Sociery
· b1f;,,,,,,,r;,,11
rripleC-J•:tm,1!_fi,r,1 C/i,/,,1/Su~t,ii11ablt S,ll'ietr:"Capitalist Cn,is.
Commurucarion & Culture" 1-l(2). (2009): 193-309. edited by Chmr1,111
Fuch~. .\1attlua, SchJfi-anek. Dand Hakken and !\la.rem Breen.
Iuremarz,m11! ]<•:.r,d ,2rC,1m111u111ra11mr
"Global Fmancial Cn,1'" -t (2010). ed-
ited b\" Paula Chakm·amy ,md John D.H. Dow rung.
Culwml Swdies: "The Econonuc Cnm and Af"i:t•r"2-t (3). (2010): 283--t-t-t.

lrf,m Erdog-an (2012) h,h anah-sed 210 article-- that mentioned Marx and that
were pub!i-,hed 111 77 selened meclia .ind conunumr.mon journ.ih between J.mu-
ary 2007 and June 2011. He found that "Maimcre.un ,tudie, t~'Tloreand l.tber.tl-
dcmocrat\ gl·nerally apprcnate .\1.irx", wherea, the marn cnnc1'nts of Marx
come from ",o-called ·cnncal' or 'altl"rllJUn'.· approache-5··. who,e '"altern.iriH·,·
are ',tlternati, ·e, to .\larx'" .ind crincal Ill the seme of a "crino,m directed a~.i.in,t
M.irx" (382). :\t the same nme as thefl' are sust.1111l'd attempt, to downplay the
importa.Jice of .\1arx for thl· ,cudy of ,ociery. meJ1.1 and commurucanon. there
are mdicator, of a cercam dep-ee of Ill'\\' engag:eml'nt w1th .\1arx. One of them
i, the special 1,me of trrplrC (www.triple-c.at) "M,1rx Is Back-The lmport.11Kc
of Marxm Theory a.J1dRc,earch for Crmcal Commun.icanon Studie; loday"
(Fuch, and .\to,co 2012\. wluch features 29 amde- on more th.1n 500 p.t~l"·
Another om· \\~J, the conference "Cnnque. Democracy and Philosophy Ill
21 ,r Century Information Soc1et:y:To\\"ard, Cnncal Theorie, of Sooal Media". ,1t
wluch a sustarned eng-.igement with M.u, and commutucanon tod.iy took pl.tee.
e,pecially by .ind among PhD student, (,ce Fuch, 2012a. 2012d).
\\'herea, M.1rx was alw·ay, relevant, thi, rclennce h.h not been much acknowl-
edged m ml·d1,1and communication m1die, in rt'Cl'nt years. Ir has r.ither bl't'll
conunon. a, Erdogan ,2012) show,. co nmmtl·rpret and nusunderstwd .\1.irx.
which partly came al,o from a mi,re-ad111~ ofhi, work, or &om outright 1gnora11ee
of lu, works . Terry Eagleton (2011) di,cmse, tl'll common prejudice-, ag-.iinsr
M,1rx and M,1rx1,m and ,hows why l'v1,1rxwas right ,md why tl1e,c preJudICl'>are
wrong. \Ve haw added to the followmg o,·erYiew a media. and communic:mon
dunen,ion to t'ach p~1ud11:e.The'\e communicatton Jimens1on, point toward-,
conunon preJudice. aga1mt t-.1arx w1thm media and commmucanon ~tudie,.
 Introduction 1S

I Vl."2Ilt
co counter each of the anti-Marxian prejudice-. with a t"OU11ter-daimthat
rs grounded in the analy,c, pre,cnted 111 tlm book which ,how the 1mporunce of
Marx for U11derstandmg ,onety and the med.ta crincally.

la) .\lar:d.,rOurdared11e;s !
~fana,m is old-fa,luoned and not su1ted for a po~t-mdmmal ~ociety.
lb) M.ir:dsrTi.•pi(.i/ity!
ln order to adequately and critically understand communication in society.
we need Marx .
) .t.\!Jr.wt Rep11·
:?.a .,;fo11!
Manmm ma\' ,ound good 111 theor:~ but m practice u can only re,ult 111
terror. tyranny and mass murder. The feasib1hty of a sooalist ,ooety and
socialist med.ta are 1llu,ionary.
2b) Capit.iliHRepTt'ssi,,11 !
Capitalism neither -.ouud, like a good idea/theor: · nor doe- 1t work 111
pracnce. as the reality oflarge-scale 111equality.global war and ennronmental
devastation shows. The fea,ibiliry of soc1afum and ,ocial1,t medi.i an,e, out
of the crise, of capitalism.
3a) ,\l,1rxis111 = Dcrermi111m1 !
Marx behewd 111dcternunistic law, of ru,tory and the automatic end of
capitali,m that would also cntail the aucom.itic end of c.ip1cali,t media .
3b1 ,\larxism = Di11lecti(s a11dC.1111ple:dr)'
!
Marxian and Hegelian dialectics allow us to ,ce the history of ,ociety and
the media as being ,haped by structural conditioning. open-ended struggle,,
md a dialectic of structure and agency.
42 .\farxisr D,,-GMdism!
Marx had a nai\-e ptcrure of humanity\ goodness and ignored that humam
are naturallv ,elfish. acquNm·e. aggre"1ve and compeaa\·e . The medJa 111-
dusrr:· 1stherefore necessarily b.i,ed on profit and competition: otherw1,e 1t
cannot work.
-"b) CapitalisrWickcd11e.s, !
The logtc of lllill\"tduah,m. egoism. profit ma.xinuzarion and compentton
has been tried and te,ced under neohberal capitalism. which ha, also trans-
formed the media bndscape and made it more unequal.
~ ) .\J.1rxw Reduai,mism!
Marx and :\lal'Xbm reduce all cultural and pohncal phenomena to the
economr, They do nor h,we an under~tandtng of non-econonur aspects of
the meilia and conununil ·arion .
5bJ .\1.irxistComplcxiry!
Contemporary dewlopmenc. show that the economy in c.ip1talismu not deter-
nuning but a ,peaal system that resulc. m the etrrumstance chat all phenomena
wider capitah,m. which mdude.. all media phenomenJ. ha\~ d~ ~pet.LS and are
dialectically rel.ired to cl~. Clas.-1, a necC'!&U'}; although cercamly not suHit;enr.
condinon for e:\.-plau1mg phenomena. of contemporary ,;oaet\'.
16 Introduction

(6a) .\/.1rxis1Arui-H1mr,111i.m1!
Marx had no mtere,ts III rehg1on and ethlC, and reduced comnmi-ne" to
matter. He therefr)re pan:d the way for the ann-humam,m of StJhn and
othl'rs. J\1ar,mm c.mnot ground med1a l'thic,.
(6b) .,1,rr.,1,;rHu111c111is111
.1
J\tarx wa, a deep humani,t and conununi,m wa, for him practical lm-
ma1mm. das, ,truggle pr.1ct1l-.tleclm:,. H1, tht>ory was deeply eth1l·.tl and
normam·e. Cnncal Pohacal Economy ofche :'\kdia nece-sanly indude, a
cntic.tl t·tluc~ of tht' med1a.
(7a) Tire 0111.la1ed11t"ss ,f Cl,L<$1

Marxism\ ob,t>,sion with da" ts outdated. Today. the expansion of knowl-

edgt' work is rt'monng .ill da" barrien .
fib) ·nz, lmr,%111.·,,:fClass!
High moo-economic i11equ,1hty,It all len•b of ,ociet.11 org.iniz.ition is
ind1cann: of the l,rcum,unce tlut contemporary ,ociery i, first and
forcmo,t a multilt•,·elled da,\ sonl·ty. Knowledgl' \\'Ork 1, no homog-
enous category but rather a das,-,trucmred ,pace that mcludes internal
cla" relation, and straaticanon patterm (bo th a 111.inagerand a precar-
iously employed call Cl'lltrt' agent or data entry clerk are kno\\'ledge
worker..) .
(8a) .'111rxist,;Opp,1spDc1111>muy!
J\1.,r.ast, IJ.\·our nolenc re,·olut1on and oppose peaceti.tl reform and demo,-
ran· .The\' do not accept the important role of the med1.1for democracy.
(8b) St>(1i1lis111 = Drmocmcy!
Cap1tab111 h:i, a h1,tory of hwnan n!?hts nolatiom. ,trucniral nolenre
and warfare. In the realm of the med1a. there 1, .i cap1t,tl1\tlmtory of med1.1
,upport for ,mti-democr.itic goal, \ larxrnn b a demand for peace. de-
mocracy .md democranc media. M.irx m his ownjourn,tl1snc wrmngs and
practice ,tru!4tled for free spt·l·ch. democratic joumah,m and democranc
mediJ. and co end to cen,or-lup.
(9a) ;Uc,rx,sr Diam,,,.,1,ip!
l\.tarxi,m ·, logic is the logic of the p.1rty chat rc,tilr,, Ill the logic of the ,me
.md the 111stall.1tion of monstrous dictator, th,lt control. monitor . m.impu-
late .ind ce1i-or the media.
(9b) C.1ri1,1lis1 Diaa1,•,~-/11p!
Cap1tali,m imt.tlls a mon,trom economic din.1corsh1p that concrok mon-
nors. m.uupulates and censors the med1a by economK a11d ideological
me. 1m. Manasm\ logic i, one of a \\'ell-rounded humanity fcmering con-
dmons thJt enable people to be actt\'e 111 many pursuir, and includes the
,-iew that e,·eryonc can become a _1ournalist.
( IOa) .,·,,,,_Cl,w-Orirnrrd Xru · S,>ci.il .\/,weme111s!
='-/cw soo.tl mo\'ement5 1fem11mm, ennrornnent.tl1,m. g.iy right,. peace
mo\'emcnt. youth mm·l·mcm, etc.) h.i\'e left cla,, and J\1arx.i5mbchmd.
Srruggle, for alternan\·c me...ha are re-lated to the new ,ocial 1110,·cmem,.
not to da,, ,trugglc,.
 Introduction 17

10b) Clas;-Oriemed .'\·m, S,xi11I.\I(we111e11ts!

The new mo,:ements resulting from the current crisis (such as the Occupy
moYement) as well as recent mm·ements for democratic globalization are
moYemenc, that are bound together by deep concern for inequality and
class. Contemporary struggles are class struggles that make use of a multi-
tude of alternam·e mecli.a.

.\ Mamst theory of conununicarion should "demomtrate how communication

and culture a.rematenal practices. how labor and language are mutually constituted.
and ho\\ commurucation and infom1auon are dialectical instances of the same so-
a.tl activity. the social construction of mearung. Situating these tasks within a larger
:r.rrnework of understanding power and resistance would place conununication
duectly into the flO\,.-of a Marxian tradition that remains alive and relevant today"
V,.1osco2009. ➔➔). A Marxist theory of communication st·es communication in re-
boon to capitalism . "placing in the foreground the analysis of c-apitalism.including
me de,.-elopmem of the forces and relations of production. commodification and
the production of surplus value. social class divisions and struggles. contradictions
and oppositional movements·· (ibid .. 9➔). MaIXlSt media and commwncation stud-
ies are not only relevant now. but ha,·e been so for a long time because commwlica-
non has always been embedded into structures of inequality in class societies. With
the rise of neoliberalism. Marxist communication theory has suffered a setback
because it had become common to margmahze and discriminate against Marxist
scholarship (see Erdogan 2012) and ro replace Marxism with poscmoderni~n. So
L\bn: was always relevant. but bemg Mamst and practising Marxism were al\\~ays
.£:tic-ult. in part because Marxist studies lacked a solid institutional base. What we
cm -;ee today is a rising mterest in Manes work. The questmn is whether it will
~ po:;sible to channel this interest into mstitutional rramfom1ations chat challenge
the predominant adnnnistrati,·e character of media institutions and strengthen the
-;::s;:irutionalizatmn of critical studies of media and conununication.
Some scholars have said that Marx ne,·er commented on networked media
~kluhan 2001. ➔ 1). which is refuted by not only Marx's di,cussions of the tele -
i;nph. but also the one in which Marx describes a global informanon network.
m which "eyeryone attempts to inform himself .. on othe~ and "connecnons are
=O\foced·· (Marx 185- 1858b. 161) . Such a description not only sounds like
.cl maapation of the concept of the Internet, it 1salso an indication that l'vlarx's
~1n;ht IS rele,·ant for media commwucation ,tudies and Internet stuche,. Thi,
'==gt" m the Gnwdrisse is an indication that although the Internet as technology
I2> a product of the Cold War and Californian counter - culrure. it, concept was
-~ · anticipated by Marx m the 19th century-K,,r/ .\Jarx irweured the lmemer !
amsoan Fuchs and Nick Dyer- Witheford (2013) ha,-e argued that ten con cepts
~y make Marx's works crucial for unders~anding the Internet and social media:

1 dialectics
cap1tafam
18 Introduction

(3) commodity ·commoduication

(4) surplus \"alue.eq>lo1tation. alienation. class
(5) globalization
(6) ideology/ideology criuque
(7) class struggle
(S) common,
(9) public sphere
(10) commumsm

The outlined concepts allow one to formulate an mcomplete re--carchagend.l for

critical Internet studies that mdudes the following que,ttons:

(1) How can the creJtion. the dewlopment and the concradicnon, of the In-
ternet be understood wnh:in a dialecttcally mformed hi5tom-al perspecrm~?
(2) \\'hat exactly 1s the role of the Internet m capitalism? Ho\\' can thh role
be theorized and empmcally mea,ured? Wluch lmernct-ha,ed cap1t,1l,1c-
cumulaoon model, are there?
(3) \Vluch form~ of commodificanon do we find on the Internet and how do
they work?
(4) Which different forrm of ,urplus ,·alue creation are there 011 the Internet?
How do they work? ~'hat do u,ef\ think about them?
(5) How do~ the Internet mteract \\ith global1zanon proc~,e--?
(6) \'\'h:ich myths and ideologies arc there about the Internet? How can they
be uncovered. analy,ed and crinc1zed?
(7) \Vhat i\ the role of the Internet m class struggle,? What are the potentiah.
realuies and limits oi ,trug:g:lesfor an alternari,·e Internet?
(8) \"\'hat are Internet commons? How does the commodific-anon of the In-
ternet conunons work? Which models for strengthening the Internet com-
mons are there?
(9) \v'hat are the pocemiah and litmt, of the Internet for bnngmg ahout a
public sphere?
(10) Whar is a commom-based Internet in a commons-based soncty? Wluch
germ fonm and models of a conunons-ha,ed Internet are there? How
can the C\t.ibli,hmcnt of a conunom -based Internet Jnd correspondmg
muggle, be mengchened?

/\ number of ,cholars haw conducted important work for try111gto overcome

the labour bhnd ,pot of media and conunurucanon studies. \'mct·nt .\1osco and
Catherine McKercher have edited a ,cric, of collccuom about rommumca-
nve labour (McKercher and Mosco 2006, 2007: Mo,co, McKercher Jnd Huw,
211 J1 l) .is well a, a monograph (Mo,co and McKen:her 2008 ) Ur,ula Huw,·
edmng oi the journal II i1rl· Org,111i.;.uio11 (,ee ww,, ·.
Lab, 1111 and G/,,bali,'111011
analyncapubhcanons.co.uk) ha, resulted in the e,tabh,hment of an important
 Introduction 19

platform for the publication of crmcal studtc~ of labour in the context of

knowledge. ICTs and the medi.1. l\ number of conferences h.1,·c contnbmcd
m the emergt."nce of J chscour-t." on d1gual labour: ··D1g1tal Labour: \Vorkt."~.
•\uth ,rs. Cmzcus·· \\Vc,rern Univermy. London, Ontario. Canada. October
16-b . 20 ·1 see 1r.hb.uwo.ca / digitalbbour. Bur,con. Dver-Wttheford and
Heu: . 2fl ; "The Internet ,h Pla,·ground and Faccon ·· Ne,, · York. "-ew
Sdt0t ,i, :-S:owmber 12-14. 2U09: see d1gk.illabor.org. Sl·holz 2013 ) . and "The
-'th h "Ts and Society Conterence· Cnnque. Democr.icy and Phtlosoph,· m
:'ls: Cenru~ lnformJtion So.:iery:To,,arch CrmcalThcories of<ional ~kdla··
1Ipps2la Um\'ersitv. Uppsala . Sweden. May 2--t 2012: see ,,·ww.ict, --and -
SiXlety.ner / events upp,ala2012. Fuch, ,rnd S,rndon..l 20 14. Fuch, 20 12a. 20 l 2d\.
~ Journal mj,/cC ha, mcrea,mgly 1110\·edrowarm pubhshmg Manast works
an ch¢tal media and mformatwnal cap1tafom. as with the special issue "\1arx
h &ck-The Importance of ~1.irci,t Tht."o~· a11dR~t."uch for Cnnc.J ( om-
==::!c:uion Studies Today" (Fuchs .ind Mo,co 2012). The EU COST Action
l2''.l2 .. Dynamics ofVirrua.l Work'" (2012-2 0 16. dynatmc,of-,rrualwork .rom )
~ out the need to rdocm the study of the creaciw .1nd cultural economy
:c mun such as the global d1\'ision of labour in this indm tn. the workmg
=cd:::iom lll\'Oh-ed in the mternationJl d.tn,1011of chgttal labour 'IDOL). prc -
.::.::::,m cultural labour. the problem of •·free·· digit.ti labour and ch.illengc, to
-:::.e:nnng digital labour·s value creation. the challenge of prmumpcion (pro -
~ consumpnon ) and playbour (play labour ) for knowledge work. pohcy
~O\"es on nrtu.il work (the role of trade U1uons.watchdog and ci\·11 ,on-
- p::t>Jectsmch as M.1kdT F.1ir.policy problem~ and challenge, for the re~-rula -
-=i- cfvirrual work. etl ) and occupational identities in knowledge work ~hrx .

..:.::::z:.:..-srn
, labour and digual labour h,1\·ebecome more 11nportant 111 media and
::x-=:un1cacion stuche,. although the m,m1stream ts mil dominated by ad.tninis-
~ =rch 1,
.The ra,k to further m,ntunon .,ltze the,e <tuche~,o that a new
r:c:annn of i\1arxist media and communicauon scho!.1rs can emt."rge.blo•"om
..c.::nse co become the ne,\· matmtteam .

&...:::=::bef'«i
'" i, , pby on word, . It on the one hand me.ms that ,omeUll.ltg (like
..... &-=zon p.ll'C"el
) gee-. deliwre,I and on the ocher hand th,H one 1, at the men·y of
',od y.
Bc-d.lngungen ,,,e m cinem modernen .-\rbcit,bger und grenzenlo,e Prufitg1er.
\..'H EL'CH! "
~ Si.:hn:mum . .iber H,1upt5ache der Profit ,rmum·· .
~ die aui emer neuen Spiel.rt von S,-.. :ere1 beruhen. ,ollren gen a,o (su)
~ '\\Wen. w1e ecwa Gcwinne aus Droge1..h.mdel'."' (All conm1ent!>are fiom the
=de Facebook pat,1e.FebruJi:,· 16-17.2013 .)
11
THEORIZING DIGITAL LABOUR
ON SOCIAL MEDIA 1

• "Connect with friends and the world around you on Facebook".

"Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make •
the world more open and connected#.
• "YouTube allows billions of people to discover, watch and share origi-
nally-created videos. YouTubeprovides a forum for people to connect,
inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution
platform for original content creators and advertiserslarge and small"
• "Welcome to Twitter. Find out what's happening, right now, with
the people and organizations you care about". "Twitter is a real-time
information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas,
opinions and news about what you find interesting. Simply find the
accounts you find most compelling and follow the conversations".
• "Blogger: Create a blog. It's free".
• 'Over 200 million professionals use Linkedln to exchange informa-
tion, ideas and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and
industry. Find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your
goals. Control your professional identity online".
• "What can you do on VK? Find people with whom you've studied,
worked or met on vacation. Learn more about people around you and
make new friends. Stay in touch with loved ones".
• "tumblr. Follow the world's creators. Tumblr lets you effortlessly share
anything" . "Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from

(Co111
it111rd
)
244 Analysing Digital Labour

your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be.

You can customize everything, from colors to your theme's HTML".
• "Pinterest. Collect and organize the things you love".
• "Meet lnstagram. It's a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your pho-
tos with friends and family. Snap a picture, choose a filter to transform
its look and feel, then post to lnstagram. Share to Facebook, Twitter,
and Tumblr too-it's as easy as pie. It's photo sharing, reinvented. Oh
yeah, did we mention it's free?"
• ''Discover and share great places with friends, Over 30 million people
use Foursquare to make the most of where they are. Discover and
learn about great places nearby, search for what you're craving, and
get deals and tips along the way. Best of all, Foursquare is personal-
ized. With every check-in, we get even better at recommending places
for you to try ·.
• Weibo: "Sina microblogging account? Join now". "Hi! I am the
audience".

These are invitations for users to join on some of the world's most popu-
lar social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube. Twitter . Blogger, Linkedl'l.
VK, tumblr, Pinterest, lnstagram, Foursquare, Weibo. They promise users
possibilities to connect, share, open the world. discover. watch, create, in-
form, inspire, find out, care, exchange, contact, learn, follow, post, collect.
organize, fun, recommend, and enjoy beauty, freedom and opportunities.
Corporate social media publish a flood of positive promises and associa-
tions. But how does this all work? And who works to make it work? And
who owns the results of this work? Understanding corporate social med":J
requires a critical discussion of digital labour and digi tal work and an en-
gagement with these questions: What are digital work and digital laboc.r
on social media?

11.1. Introduction
l,;,er.; .tl t as buwr; ,nd co1Ntnlt'r) of ICT, 111 many dufl·rent w-ays:for a:::::;i-.
they bm and u,e d.·,ktop computer,. monitor,. laprop,. mobile phones.
pnntcrs, keybl>.uds.nuce. pme comole,. opcrattng ,ystem,. apphcacon s.J::5-IS'.
,·ideo, ,md image, . In all of the,e roles, dr-
or online aCCl'" to music. te:-..-rs.
a, co1humer... who exchange money with conunoJm~. whereby capu:al is
formed from the commodity form mto the mom.•y form. or, as Marx
ISS.5) ,.1y,.protit h realized from the potenn.tl forn1 that 1t ha, Ill the ...,..-"---
__
in the ti.mu of n:y,t.illizcd ,urplu, labour into thl' actual form it has as
d1ac thl" con,umer pays for obc.umn~ '>wnc~rup .,f or ,Kee-., co ICT s.
l'Xamplt"-Ju,t descnhed. u,ers .ire not ICT worker, buc racher corutu::e:':
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 245

capital accumulation process M (money)-C (commodities: means of produc-

tion, labour-power) .. P (production) .. C' (new commodity)-M' (more money)
comes to an end in the consumer,· bu);ng process jmt in order to start anew
when part of the a.chie,·ed profit is reirn·ested into new production so that a new
cycle of accumulation can start. So the users· role is precisely in the sc-.igeC'-M ·.
in which s. he exchanges money \\;th commodities and obtains a use-,-alue for
consumpnon. In the consumption process itself. users engage in the cultural pro-
cess of meaning -making: they create \.lrious meanings of commodities in the
usage of these goods in e\·eryday life.They may for example find a new computer
game entertaining. boring. ftumy. too violent. indi\·idualizing. a good form for so-
cializing with other players,and so on. What they produce is meaning in the usage
and consumption process of cultural goods.These roles ofICT users as consmners
as partly changing tm,.irds what some haw caJled Internet prosumption (Fuchs
2010b. Ritzer and Jurgenson 2010) or conswnption work (Huws 2003.37-38. H:
Hu\',:s 2012) of ICT users. So what are these changes aJJabout?

11.2. Users and the Productive Forces in the International

Division of Digital Labour : Labour-Power and the
Objects, Tools and Products of Labour
In early 2013. -l6% of aJI Internet users searched online for infonnation w1th the
help of Google and 13% with the help of Baidu. -l3°,~were users of Facebook. 32%
watched \"ldeos on YouTube, 7"totweeted. 6°,,.were reading or writing biogs on
Blogspot and 3% used Linked ln (ale:-..--a.com. three-month a\·er.ige usage statistics.
accessed January 18, 2013). These platforms a.re difleren t in that they enable dif-
tercnt forms of usa~earching . social networking. sharing and watching user-
generated content. blogging and short message blogging (microblogging). What
they all ha\·e in common is not necessarily that they are "social" and that other
fonns of Internet usage (such as reading an onlme newspaper or sending an email)
are "non -social" . They rather imply a form of sociality focused on sharing. com-
munity and collaboration that is combined \\;th infonnation and communication.
\Yhich are two other forms of socialization. What aJJ of these platforms ha\'e in
common is that they use a busmess m.odel that is based on targeted advertising
and that turn users· data (content. profiles. social networks. online behaviour) into
a commodity. The use, monitoring and commodification of user data is typically
legally defined in terms of use and privacy poli<..;es.Internet prosumer commodi -
fi.cation is enabled by privacy policies and terms of use. Here are three examples
of such provi\ions:

··we use the information we receive to deliver ads and to make them more
rele,:am to you. This includes aJJof the things you share and do on Facebook.
such as the Pages you like or key \Vords fi:om your stories. and the things we
infer fi:om your use ofFacebook"' (Facebook Data Use Policy.June 8. 2012).
246 Analysing Digital Labour

"We also use this mformation to offer you tailored content--such as gincy
you more relevant search results and ads" (Google Privacy Poli0;July 27, 2012 1.
''The Services may include adYertisements. which may be targeted to the-
Content or information on the Services, queri~ made through the Sernces.
or other information" (Twitter Terms of Use. June 25, 2012).

Commodities haH: producers who create them: othernise they cannot en.st
So if the commodity of the mentioned Internet platforms is user data, then the
process of creating these data must be considered to be ,-alue-generating labour
This means that this type of Internet usage is producti, ·e consumption or pro-
sumption in the sense that it creates value and a conunodity that is sold. In &. ·
context. the notion of digital labour has gained pronunence (Burston, Thr-
Witheford and Hearn 2010: Scholz 2013). and Dallas Smythc's concept of th..
audience commodity has been re,-ived and transformed into the concept of~
Internet prosumer commodity: Digital labour creates on social media the lmer-
net prosumer commodity that is sold by Internet platfonns to advertising clien~
\\'hich in return present targeted ads to users.
Management thinkers have recommended to companies the outsourcing c£
labour to users and consumers in order to increase profits by decreasing !al=
com. Jeff Howe has in this context introduced the concept of crowdso~
"Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution ak-
ing a funcaon once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefuio::
(and generally large) nen,-ork of people in the form of an open call.This can en:
the form of peer-production (when the job is perfonned collaboratively). bm
also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use oi a
open call format and the large network ofpotenaal laborers" (Hmve 2006). H~
(2008) has argued that crowdsourcing results in a democratization of ca.pitahs:::::
"Crowdsourcing engenders another form of collaboration as well. between ~ x:::-
panies and customers. Toffler was right: people don't ,vant to comume paw~,~
they'd rather participate in the de,·elopmem and creation of products meanin;::::
to them. Cro,vdsourcing is just one manifestation of a l.irger rrend toward ~
democratization m commerce" (ibid.. 14).That management gurus make such~-
ommendations and present them in an ideological form as economic dem~
an indication that a new capital accumulation model has emerged.

11.3. Users and the Relations of Production in the lnternati oM

Division of Digital Labour
In this section, we ,vill discuss how to apply Marx's theory of work and hbo=
to the realm of online media. We on the one hand de,·elop general arg:um:ec-
and on the other hand use Facebook as an example to make the abstract dJSC:5-
sion more concrete. Facebook is particularly suited as a ca5e study becau~ K
the most popular "social medium" and uses a capital accwnulation modd c::::
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 247

cannot work wnhout the commodificacion of user,· online arm-inc,. The di~cu,-
,ion can also be applied to other form, of ,ocial media \l/e ,,-ill
u~e the cfatmction
berween work and labour tl1at was introduced 111 chapter 3 to analy\e genernl
and capitafam-specific charactcn-,tlD of online work. The ,ecnon 1s di,,ded imo
three parts: the fim one discusses d.1g1talwork on ,onal media (1 t.J.1). the sec-
ond one dignal l.ibour on social med.la (11..L~). the third one on the law of
,·alue on ,ocial media (11.J.3).

11.3. 1. Digital Work on SocialMedia

Raymond ~'1lham, focus"' 1.11ru, C\-.J.V "t\,1ean, of Communication as Means of
Producnon" on the ,tructure, of commumcanon. that 1s. medJa (mcluding lan-
guage and m.1,s media). and a~>uc, th.it they are meam of production and there-
fore '"mdJ,pen\Jble elements both of the producm·e forces and of the."relations
of production·· (\'\'ilhams 1980. 50). His focu, on ,rructure,. howe,·er. lea,·es out
the focm on the ,ubJecr-,' praccin·, and the question whether conunumcanon 1s
a form of work. The mo,t concrete way he addre-,es this issue is by :,.i),ng th.it
language, and communicanon are '"forms of social production·· (ibid .. 55).A que,-
non related to the relanon,hip of work and conununication 1sthe role ofnarure m
production and the i,,ue of whether the object of work is nece!>5an.h- t.iken fi:om
nature. "It is possible that the material ofl.ibour. the obJect to be appropnated by
mean, of labour for a spenfic ne<."d.i, a\"ailable in rurure without the assi,tanl·e
of human labour: the fi,h caught 111 water for example. or the wood felled m
the pm11t•va.lfo~t. or the ore brought up out of the pit. In such a case only the
meam of labour itself is a product of prenou, human labour. Tm, ch.1racteri,e,
everytmng that can be called e:-..-cracn,·e mdustry : 1conh applic, to agncu.lrure to
the extent that. ,ay.,,rgin sml is being culn\"ated" ,~brx 1861-18t>J) Thi, quo-
canon show, that Marx coruidered nature jmt one po,sible object of \\·ork th,lt
occun in agricultural work and minmg. Thi, unphes that also fabncated narure
and idea, can be the ob3ect of work.Agricultural and exrracnw work cake, narure
.i, the ob3ecc. industrial work cake-,fabricated nature .1, the object. information
work take, ideas ,md human ,uby:cm·ity a, rhe object Marx descnbt•d the lat-
ter possibility in the Gn111dri,.--e·s
"Fragment on Machme, · as a consequence of
capuahsm\ recm1olog1ca.lprogre-,. 10 which fixed con,tant capital m the furm of
macmne, become, ru,roncalh ever more unportallt 1.11producnon in order to 111-
crease productin~: wluch 1, a development that i, accompanied by the nsmg rel-
evance of inform.ition work. He comed the notion of the general imellecr 111cm,
conte;,,.1::
"The de\"elopment of ti.xcd capital mdicacc, to what degree general ,onal
knowledge has become a direct force of producnon. and to what degree. hence.
the conditions of the proce-, of social life it,elf haw come under the control
of the genera.I imellen and been transformed 111 acconiance with it. To what dl'-
gree the powers of ~onal production h,we been produced. nor only III the fonn of
knowledge. but aho ,.h munedi.ite orgam of :.ol'!a.1practJCe.of the real hfe pron ...,,··
248 Analysing Digital Labour

(Marx 1857 18586. 706). Most Marxist approaches that ha,·e gi,·en attention to
the communication proce,s at a theoretical Jen~!haYe focused on the commuruca-
m·e character of work but have negleeted the question if conununicaoon is work.
They stress that \York reqwres communication and is organized "ith the help of
communication and human communication emerged and is reproduced in mcer-
action with hwnan work. Convenoonal cornmunication theory sees the material
and the ideal as two separate realms of society. labour and mteraction are seen as
being alien to and independent from each other (Hund tr'6. 2""2-273).
Language fi the result of human actiYiOes OYermany gencranons. Words are
not natural obJccts but produced by humans together in their culture. As being
produced by humans. informanon is the product of human ,,:ork. Hands. head.
ears. mouth-body and brain-work together in order co enable speech. \Vork
has a dual character: it has physic-aland social dimensions. Thin\...-ingand speaking
that result in the production of information and symbols form the physical aspect.
hwnan relations the social dimension of conummication (Hund and Km:hhoff-
Hund 1980).
Information c.m be conceived as a threefold proce~ of cogninon. communica-
non and cooperation (Fuchs and Hofkirch.ner 2005. Fuchs et al. 2010 . Hofkirch -
ner 2002). The following table gi,·es an overYiew of the dimens.ions of cognitive.
commwlicative and cooperative work.
Figure 11.1 ~hows th.at these three processes are connected dialectically and
form together the process of information work. Each of the three beha,iours-
cogtlition . communication and cooperation-is a work process: cogtlinon is work
of the human brain. communicaoon work of human groups and cooperanon col-
laborative work of human groups. Commurucation is based on cognition and use,
the products of cogiution-1dcas-as its object of work. Cooperation is based on
commu1lication and uses the products of commwlication-mea.nings-as objeet

TABLE 11.1 The subject, obJect and subject-object of cognim·e. comn1wucative and
cooperatiYe work

S11bjm o~,m~r

Cognition = hum.in Humm being E:s.--per

iences Br.1in Thoughts.
bra.in work cognitive
patterns. ideas
Communicanon = Group of Thoughts Brain. mouth, Meaning
hwnmgroup humans e;irs

work
Cooperation = Group of MeJning Brain. mouth. Information
collaborati,·e humans e.m.body product ,...;di
human group shared and
work co-ere ared
meaning
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 249

of work. Information is a work process. in which cognitive work creates ideas.

communicati\·e work creates meanings and cooperaove work co-creates infom1a-
tion produces that have shared and co-created meaning. Infom1ation is a dialecti-
cal process of human work. in which cognition. communication and cooperation
are dialectically connected. Each of these three processes fomis a work process
that has its own subject-object dialectic in itself.
Using the Hegel -Marxist triangle model of the work process (see the "Dialec-
tical triangle of the work process'' in chapter 2, figure 2.2). one can argue that the
development that Marx points out on behalf of the notion of the general intellect
can be formalized as follows: S-0 > SO ... S-SO > SSO ... S-SSO > SSSO and
so forth. The obJect position of a dialectic.tl work mangle Stans with the result. the
sub3ect-object of a previous triangle. and so on.
An example: A person likes reading books about gardening and builds up a
sophisticated knowledge of how to create and maintain a good-looking garden
by reading more and more books and applying this knowledge in his/ her garden.
The created know ledge is a use-value in the sense that it helps him / her organize
his/ her own garden in a nice-looking manne r. S/ he meets another person who
has comparable knowledge. They start exchanging ideas on gardening. In this
communication process. the shared knowledge of one person forms an object
that is interpreted by the other person so that meaning (i.e. an interpretation
of parts of the world) is formed. The process also works vice versa. As a result.
meanings are created as use-,·alues on both sides. and each person understands
something about the other. After continuous com·ersations and murual learning.
the two hobby gardeners decide to write a book about gardening. They develop
new ideas by discussing and bring their experiences together, \Vhereby synergies,

Information products wit h shared and co-created meaning

/4PERATI~
Human group---Meaning - Brain, mouth, ears, body

\ Meaning

Thoughts, ideas -------~MUN~

/ "'-. Human group -- Ideas, thoughts -
AoGNITIO~ Brain, mouth, ears,
Human--- Experiences - Brain body

FIGURE 11.1 The information process as work process

250 Analysing Digital Labour

new expenenct·, .ind new g-ardenmg method, emerge. In the book. they describe
these new merho.b that they h.1,·emed m pracnce m a JOmth run g-Jrden.The
n.•presentat10m of the Joint experience, and of the co-created method, in the
fonn oi .i book are a u,c-,·.tlue nor ju,r for the rwo. bur for orht·l", too.
\Vork requirt•, mform,ltlon processc, ..md information creanon is tt,df a work
proce-.,. This model allow, (m comra,r to Haberma,· approach a non-duali,nc
,oluaon to the quemon of how work and information/interaction are con-
nected. It a,·oid, separJttons hetween nature/culture. work mteran1on, ba,e/
,1iper,rnicrure. but ratht'r 1t argues that 111.forn1Jt1on h." 1rs own economy-it is
work that creart', speutic use-ulues. Tht.>,euse-,-alue, are ind1ndual m character
,)11.lyat the lt.>•:dof CO!,?mrion-the hwnan thinks and dewlop, new ideas-
wherea, they hJve a direct social character ,It the levd of conunumcation and
rooperation. But hum.1m do not exi,t a, monads: the obJeCb of cog111tivework
,tem to a large degree from sonety ir,elf and !Tom human e:-..-perience,.To inter-
pret the information creation procei, a, work h nor plulo,opluc.tl idealism be-
l·au,e 1deah,m ,et·, ,pint a, .111 independently ex1,ting entity that i, nor connected
to human labour. Idea,. mea11111g-, and co-crc.ned mformaaon product, .1reoh-
JCct, oflabour that rerlecr society in complex w,1,·s.EYery work procc~~requires
cob'Tlln1..•n.commurncanon and cooperaaon a, roob of production. Therefo~.
the pl1\',1calproduction of good, m 111,1nufacturmga, well a, ,1gricultural won:
.,nd nu11111g art· nl·,-er ,eparare from uiformanon procl·,,es. Tiu-, aspect has hem
,tres,ed III many l\.1arxi,t analpl'' of the conm:cnon ofconmmmcanon and won:.
In the,e produrnon fonm. information 1~ not a produrt but .i meam of produc-
non. \Vork require, informaaon. The other \\·.1)· round, mfurm.mon 1, also won:.
there 1san mfor111at1on,1I org-anization of the capirali,r mode of produnion du:
ha, grown m ,1ze 111 thl• ~C,thct·ntury (m term, of the populanon acm·l· 111 1t and
,hare of the m·erall cre.ltl·d ,-alue 111thl• economy): it focuse, on the producnon
tif inforn1,1t1on.1l ~'Oodsand sernce,. It 1, chi, kmd of producnon that " rhe nu:n
focus III tlus chapter. \Vork require,. mformaaon .rnd conunurm·,ltion. Hut ar dr
,;une time. it 1> unport,lllt to gl\·e attennon to 111fonn,1uonand commumc.ino::i
a, form, of work
In concrete work, human ,ubJect\ equipped \\,th l.1bour-power apply m-
,rrumcnt, to oh_1ecc,111 order to create products that ,ans!")·hmnan need, . 0:::
Facebook. labour-power 1, predominantly informatior:.,I work. lnfornution lS a
threefold proce" of cogninon. conmmmcanon and cooper.mon. On 1-acebool.
ii-er- puhh,h 111format1011 about their hie. which mean, they nbJecaF. the1.rsub-
jt•cm·e knowled!!e that 1, grounded in their expenence, 111sonety m mch a u~
that the) create and update rhell' u-,er profile-..Tim i, the ,tage of cognittYe wo::i:
on Facebook. U,l'TSal,o conunumcar~ ,nth ocher.-by usmg rht• me-,apng nm.:-
tion or writing conunenh on walls or ronm1u111typ,1~e,. In this proce"· men
t'\.tern.,hze part, of their cogium·e knowledge III the ,y:nhoht l·xchan~t' of~
,age~ wnh orht:r user;;, If the interaction 1> reciprocal. then subJl'Ctl\'e kno,d¢
of one u,t·r bec,imes ohJecntied m the bram, of at lea,t om.-other u,er and b
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 251

other \\·ay round. This objectification of subjecti\·e knO\dedge means that users
interpret the messages of others and thereby change their thought patterns to a
certam degree. Communicati,·e work on Facebook mean, the mutual s,mbolic
interchange of subJectiYe knowledge. which results in meaning-makmg that is
internalized. Facebook is also a community. which means that repeated conunu-
n.ication between users results in or maintains friendships and personal relations
that mvoh·e foelings of belonging together. Furthermore. it is also a space of col-
laboration. where w,ers together try to strategically achieve goals such as sanng
money by organizing online rideshanng. exchanging or giving away furniture or
clothes. or setting up community pages that enable the joint acti,-ities of guerrilla
gardeners. guerrilla knitters and others . Online community and online collabora-
of cooperatmn: hwnans come together onl.ine to create
tion are both e>..'])ressions
something new. either social relations that tll\'oh-e feelings of togetherne55 or so-
cial relanons that enable the collaboratiYe creation of novel objecrs in the world.
These cooperation processes are enabled by Facebook. and they are grounded
in human cognition and commw1icarion. from which a new quality of a social
system emerges by repeated and routinized mteractions that create r~ults on a
higher level of social orgamzation. Facebook is a realm of cognitive, communica-
tiYc and cooperati,·e acti,-ities. But why are these activities work? According to
Marx. in order to speak of work. there must be an interaction of labour-power
,,-ith objects and untruments of work so that use-values are created as products.
The follm,in!l: table summarizes these elements m rel.ition to the three fonm
of digual work and m the conte>..'tof Internet usage. In cogrutive digital work.
humans make use of their brains. mouths, speech. ears, hands. the Internet and
platforms (such as Facebook) as instruments to organize parts of the ir e>.."J)eriences
that fonn an object so that a transn1ogrified representation of these experiences
is created in the online reahn (e.g. in the form of a blog post. a user profile or an
onli.ne \-ideo). In communicati\·e digital work. e>..-penencesofat least two human
subjects (either objectified in an online form or in human brains) form an ob-
ject which is transformed \\ith the help of symbolic interaction that is enabled
by online media. human bra.ms. mouths. ,peech and ears so that new meanings
about the world and new experiences are created on the side of the im·olwd
individuals and social relationships are established. New meanings and (the cre-
ation or maintenance ot) social relations are the use-\-alues of communicative
work. Cooperati,·e digital work organizes human experiences that are gl\"en m
the form of hwnan thought. online mformation or joint mean ings and exisang
social relations with the help of online media. hwnan brains, mouths. speech.
ears and hands in such a way that new artefacts, communities or social systems
are created. A social system is a routinized social relanonship lll\'olvmg behaviour
that follows certain rules and exists o,·er a longer time period. All three forms of
digital work have a common ground: Digital work is the organizaaon of human
expenences "ith the help of the human brain. digital media and speech in such
a way that new products are created. These products can be onlme information.
252 Analysing Digital Labour

TABLE11.2 Three forms ot' dig:r.11work on sonJ.! med1J

Ob;ecrc,fuwk I,r,,,c,uqe,rr.., . 1.-1.l1 \: P.,,J,,a,use-m/1<e

Cogrunve H unun e,-renences Humm br,ins. h.mds. Online mform.mon,

digual work mouth,. ears. protib
,peech. Internet,
pl.irtoml5
Communicm,-e Human e:\-pem.•nces. HumJn brJin,. hands. '\;ew meanlll~
digit.ii work onhne mform.1tion mouth,. e.1.n. es1.1bli,hed
speech. Internet, m <OCIJI
pl.uforn:, relmoruhip,
CooperJti,-e Human ell.-penences. Humm brJms. hJnd:;. Artefacts.
digi~ work online mouths. ears. COllllllUIUtles,
mfon11.1tion, speech. Internet, so.:ul ~,rems
online <oci.1I pl.itform,
relations

meanings. social relanom. artefac~ or social \I>tems. D1g1talwork 1, grounded in

what l\.1arx termed the ~pecie,-bemg and the semuou, being of humans. which
meam that they are creanve and productive .t~ well .is sonal bemgs ,nth language
competence Man il. "a ,oaal 1).e. human: being" ,Marx 1844. 1 l~). and hi,/
her "t•xtstence is ,ocial acm-ity. Therefore what I create from lfl},elf l create for
,ociet\" \tb1d ).~
That "general social knowledge has become a direct force of producuon .. mean,
that at a cert.iin ,rage of de\'elopmem. knowledge not only plav, an mdirect rofr
for the economy in the form of educational ,kills pro,,ded by ,chooh. um,·ersio~.
hbrar1e, and other culniral msncuoom. but ir has al,o a role in the econom, m the
form of information work that creat~ informaoonal product'-. Bast-clon a read-
mg of .\tan:\ "Fragment on Machines". ltah,m :\utononmt Marx1m ha,·e formu-
lated the concept of munatenal labour. Maurino Lazzar.no mtroduced this term
b\' wluch he me-am "labour that produc~ the mfonnaoonal and cultural comer:
of the commodity" (Lazzarato 1996. 133). MKha.el Hardt and Antoruo Negri ha\'e
popularized this nooon and define mm1arenal labour as labour"that creat~ unnu-
terial products. such as kno\\'ledge. mformanon. communicanon. a relaoomlup. or
.Ill emotional respon,e" (Hardt and Negri 2005. 108). The cem1 "munacenal" cre-

ates the in1pre,~ion that mforma.oon work i, detached from nature and matter and
that there are two ,ub,tanc~ 111 the world-matter and ,pmt-diar result 111 two
different type, of work. lnformaoon work 1showever not detacht·d from nature and
matter. but t\ material ir;elf. It i, b:bed on the aconty of the human brain. which
i, a material -.ystem that i~ part of the human\ materiality. If one p~ents the spirit
,b bemg detached from narure and matter. a, post-Opera.i,t accounts Olten do. thm
one lea\'es the realm of a matenafaoc analv,1s of ,oaety .ind enters the realm of
,pirituali,m, ~otencs and religion. in which .,pirir i, an irnmorul ,ub,tance.
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 253

Are human cognition, communication and cooperation really work? Jurgen

Habermas has contested this view. He argue, that Marx. Lukacs. Horkheimer
and Adorno eiq>a11ded"the teleological concept of action" and thereby relativ-
1zed"purposive rationality against a model of reaching understanding" (Habermas
1984, 343). The strong focus on instrwnema.l reason would not provide enough
consideration of communicati\·e rationality. Marx would therefore dialectically
damp together "system and life-world" so that the "imersubjecti\'lty of work-
ers associated in large industries is crippled under the self-movement of capital"
(Habermas 1987. 340). As a consequence, Habermas makes a sharp distinction
between on the one hand purposive (instrumental, strategic) acnon that is ori -
ented to success and on the other hand communicati, ·e action that is oriented on
reaching understanding (Habernm 1984. 285-286). Work is for Habermas always
an instrumental, strategic and purposive fom1 of action.
Habermas misinterprets Marx by not seeing that the latter gives attention to
both the anthropological and historical side of human acti\'ity. In the concepts of
the species-being and the sensuous being, Marx conceives the human as a produc-
ing and communicating being. He uses in this context the notion of the species-
being and the sensuous being. The species-being is an economically producing
(i.e. working) being: "It is just in the working-up of the objective world. there-
fore, that man first really pro,·es himself to be a species being. This producnon is
his active species life. Through and because of this production, nature appears as
his work and his reality'' (Marx 1844, 77). The sensuous being is among other
things a speaking and commurucating being :'The element of thought itself-the
element of thought's li,'ing exp=mn-language-is of a sensuous nature. The
social reality of nature. and human natural science, or the natural science about
man. are identical terms" (Marx 1844, 111). Communication is enabled by the
interaction of the m-o human senses of speaking and hearing. But these senses can.
as Marx points out, never exist in isolaoon. only in social relations: "For his [the
human's] own sensuousness first exists as human sensuousness for himself through
the other man" (ibid.). "Language itself is the product of a community.just as it is
in another respect itself the presence of the community" (Marx 185711858b. 490).
Language "is practical. real consciousness that exists also for other men as well. and
only therefore does it also exist for me; language, like consciousness, only arises
from the need. the necessity of intercourse with other men., (Marx and Engels
1845/1846, -t9). For Marx. the human bemg is not necessanly an instrumental
being, because he stresseson the one hand the dimensions of sensuousness. speech
and corrununication and on the other hand points out that work 1snot always and
not necessarily a necessity and an instrument to achieve goals, but under commu -
nism it becomes a free activity beyond necessity and instrumentality.
Habermas mistakenly claims that Marx did not take into account commu-
nicaoon when describing humans 111 society but focused on work and instru-
mentality instead. As we ha\·e tried to sho,.,~Marx in his analysis of the human as
254 Analysing Digital Labour

species-bemg and sensuous being saw both the aspects of ,vork and infonnation
as consrituciw of human existence. The Italian post-operaim han· foregrounded
based 011 Marx that information has become a producti...-eforce in many contem-
porary econonues .The analyocal consequence ,, ·e can draw from this discussion
ts that 1t doe~ not make sense to separate mfonnarion and work as two realms oi
human existence. as Habennas does in hts theory. One should rather see work as
a broad category consotuti\-e of the human that mdudes different types of work.
such as agricultural work . industrial ,...-orkand informational -...,·ark
.Work on Face-
book 1s infom1arional ,,.-ork that is organized with the help of digital media based
on the Internet. D1g1tal work on soCial media 1, a specific form of mformati.onal
work that makes use of digital media as an instrument of work which 1semployed
together w1th the human brain to orgamze human experience:. in such a way cluI
symbolic representiriom. social relanons. artefacts. social sy:,,temsand commuru-
cies emerge as new qualities.

11.3.2 . Digital Labour on Social Media

I haYe argued that a conceptual distmcuon between ,...-orkand labour should be
made and that labour is based 011 a fourfold alienation of the human bemg: the
alienation from oneself. the alienation from the objects of labour (alienation fro=
the instruments oflabour. alienation from the obJects oflabour) and the alien.100...
from the created products. Thts fourfold alienation comritutes an alienation me:
the whole production process that 1s due to the exIStence of class relations a:x:
results in explmtanon. We will now apply this discussion to the realm of the di~:.l
and the case of Facebook .
,!( labo11r-pou'l?r
•-l.lie11,1ti,>11 means for l\1arx that humans ha,·e to let capital con-
trol their producti,.-e activities for a cenain share of the day m order to be abk t::
survive. One argument that one can sometimes hear about digital labour 15 tlx
Facebook users are not exploited because nobody forces chem co use the piano=
they rather do so mlw1tarily and have fun in doing so. In order to exist hunu:=:
not only haYe to eat. but also must enter social relanons, commu1ucate and £o:::z::
fnendshtps. lsolauon of an indi,Tidual from conunwucauon and social nerwo~
will ultimately result m either death or an animal-like existence. Speech and er
brain are at the heart of human communicanon power. They can only be pa::
use 111 social relanons. in the connectmn with other humans. In an info~
soaety. digital media ha,·e for many become import-ant means of imeracuon c::=-
humans employ for putting to use thcu commumcanon power . Labour -~
is therefore partly communication power. If one wants co use a soCial nerntl-
mg site (SNS) for conuuwucating with others. then Facebook 1:, the mm: El:::i
option because it contr0ls a Yery large nwnber of users and their profile,, '1i --
makes u very likely that indi\-iduals engage m a ,igmficant number of m~
communications if they access Facebook. If they do not use Facebook. their
may ltlYoh-e a smaller munber of mearungful mteracnons. This 1s e-.pea.Jh- -:::-:=:
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 25S

for young people. \vho are the most active users of Facebook and who tend to
organize everyday acti\iaes (such as paroes. going out, small talk. entertainment.
etc.) with the help of social media. The coercion exercised by Facebook on users
is not one that makes them die physically as m the case of the worker. who does
not find paid employment and gets no benefits: it is rather a social form of co-
ercion that threa tens the user w1th isolation and social disad,-antages. Facebook
users are not paid for their labour. they are unpaid workers. For Marx. ex-ploiration
does not necessarily presuppose a wage. Slaves or house workers are examples of
unpaid workers who are exploited by slave masters and family heads. Both sla\·es
and house workers existed m pre-capitalist modes of production that ha\·e been
transformed but not abolished in capitalism. They are pan of a colleca\·e worker
that creates value and is in this process exploited by capital.
The mam itistrumemscf labouron Facebook are the platfom1 itself and the brains
of its human users. Ahenaoon of users' brains means that there are attempts to dif-
fuse ideologies that present Facebook and other corporate platforms as purely
positive and as not ha\ing negative impacts. These ideologies can be summarized
\\'Ith statements such as these: "\Veb 2.0 1s a form of democratic conununicaoon
and partiapatory culture ... "Facebook ts free and always will be ..... The world \,ill
be better if you share more". "Facebook makes the world more open and con -
neeted", '·Facebook helps promoting understanding between people··. ''Facebook
creates an open society". "Facebook re\·olutioruzes ho"· people spread and con-
sume informaaon". '·Facebook gives peop le a voice'', "The Arab sprmg was a
Facebook revolution", ·•facebook is a network built from the bonom-up rather
than one of the monolithic top-down structures that have existed to date.,. and so
on. What the role of Facebook is in culture, everyday life and politics is a separate
question. but 1t 1s a fact that such statements typically used m marketing. public
relations and ad\·ertising leave out talking about negative impacts. commodifica-
tion and who controls ownership and profits. That these are ideologies does not
Lnean that users are necessarily duped by them. but there are attempts to paint
one-sided pietures of Facebook and othe r media that leave out a problematizanon
of parts of the reality of Facebook. The o\·erall aim is to achieve more users and
make users spend en~r more time on Facebook. Similar ideologies can be found
also in the context of other corporate onlme media. Facebook's capital accumula-
tion model is based on targeted adverasements. The content of these ads is m.amly
focused on promoting certain commodities. Facebook ads aim at hailing the users
to buy speafic commodities. Ads are ideological m the sense that they often make
overdrawn claims about commodities and present the latter as the best thing that
exim in the \\'Orld and as something that one must possess in order to lead a good
lite. The goal is to make consumers buy these commodines and co shape their
needs and desires in such a way that they feel that they ha\·e to possess these goods.
The instrumentalization of users' brains, hands, mouths. ears and speech, the Inter-
net and platforms for adYertising constitutes a cruaal part of the alienation of the
instruments of labour from the users on Facebook and other corporate social
256 Analysing Digital Labour

media.Alu:nanon oi the mstrume,m oflabour aho meam m the context 0i F.Ke-

hook that the users do not own .md control the platform. After Facebook ·, imnal
public offenng. m l ~ executi,·e ottin."rs and d1rt·ctor, controlled t◊gt·ther 61. I0t.of
the class B ,cock (Facebook Re)!l,tr.tnon St.itement. Form S- 11. For a da,s B stock.
there are ten votes per ,hare in contr.i.st to the F.icebook d.issA stock. where ewr:y
,l1:1rcmean, one YOte(1bid.).Other F.lcebook ,hareholders include the companies
Accel Pannt·rs. DST Global Ltd .. Elevanon Pam1ers. Goldman Sachs. Grcylock
P.irtner... Ma1l.ru Group Ltd. J\1emech Cap1t,1lPartner,. M1cro,ofi. Reid Hotnnan.
T. Rowe Prire Associanons Inc .. Tiger Global Managt·ment and Valiant C.ipital
Opportunine- LLC (ibid.). These data show, that Fan.·book h owned not by its
ti-ers. bur r.ither by m directors .ind ~ome comparues. There 1s a das, relanonship
between stork-owners and users = non-owners ar the heart of Farebook. The first
an.' Facebook\ econo,mc poor who do nor control ownership and cre.1te the
wealth that 1, controlled and owned by the ,tockholders. The da." of Facebook
u,l·r, 1salso poltrically poor becau-,e they do not have the deas1on power to mflu-
enn: Facebook \ rules and design. ,uch as the content of the term, of use and the
pm-acy pohc~: the pn\'acy ,emn~. the ust· of adwrtM.'ments. wh1t·h user data is
sdd for adwrmmg purposes. the ,t.mdard Sl'tnngs (e.g. opt-m or opt-out of t.i.r -
geted .ids). reqmred re!?istration data. the placement of t·onunercial and non-com -
mercial co11t1.·nton the ,creen. and so 011. In 2009. Facehook mrroduced a
gowrnance pJge. on which users can discu•" chan~-.,;.It abo pro\'ldes voce, .ibout
the,e changl',. Facebook ,-aysthat "1f more than 30% of all acm·e registered users
,·me. the results will be hmding". 1 These \-Otesonly concern acceptance or rejec-
non of cert.JIii policy changes. but do not cowr more ti.mdamental question, such
as if .idvernsmg should be used or not or who owns Farebook. Thl' 30°·i>restriction
clJthe seem, to ha,·e heen taken in order to nummize mfluence of u,ers. Facl·book
aho owm and controls p.lld employees and techi1olog,e, {especially server,) that
Jre necess.iry for pr:ondmg. devdopmg and m.untauung the pl.itform as .i means
of producnon. Facebook 's ,,~;ca ,,Jlab.,ur1, human expenences. These experiences
are first 1-,olated.pri,-ace and not c01mected to each other. On F.Kebook they can
be made pubhc and ,oc1illy connected ,nch e.ich ocher. They theretcm: c-.m be
ron,idered b.i,K resources and building block, of the labour conducted hy users.
By ,1~>JUJ1g up to Facebook. a u,er agrees to the prl\,KY policy and the tc:rms of
ttSl',These document:, ,t.ite that thl· user agre1.-sthat all lu,,/ her shared ex-penences
l·an be used by 1-'acebookfor econonuc purposes. Then:by users gi,·e Facebook the
nghc to u,e .hta that represent thl-se experiences for .1cn1mulanng capital. The
expenence-- arc snll ,cored m the u,ers· bram, .md not deuchable from tht•m be-
call',e knowl1.·dge1sa good that is not used up in consumpnon or when shared. But
m erononuc terms. Farebook g-am, the right to use repre,entatioth of the,e expe-
riences chat are stored on the platform for capital accumulanon. Thi, mean, that
the usen lo,e control of how and for what their social media .icnvities are t•co-
nonurally unltzed . Losing this control aho mean, that F.Kebook gams the nght to
monitor all acm;ries of it, users and to u;e rhe resulnng data for econonuc end,.
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 257

The lcg-.il,t,uemcnt- th.a enable Facebook to comrol u,er;' dJu alienate the user-.
from the control of thl' ex'P<.'nence, that they ,hare online. They .ire alienated
through a legally binding .igreement . These statements .ire the pn,·.1cy terms and
the term, of u,e that. for eXJmple. grant Facebook the followmg nghts: "\Ve me
the mfonn,mon we rece1,·e to ddiva ad, .1nd to mJke them more rcltTam to you.
Thh mdudc, all of the th.u1g-,,·ou ,hare and do on Facebook. such as thc Pagl',
you hke or key words from your scone,,. and the thing-, we mler fi:om your use of
Facebook" (Facebook Data U,e Policy")."For content that 1, covered by mtellcr-
tual property n!?:h~.hkt· photo, and ndeo, OProment). you ,pec1tically ~'1,·eu,
the followmg pcrnuss1011.subJect to your pn,-acy and application ,erring-,: you
gram t1' a non-exclusive. transferable. sub-hcen,,tble. royalty-tree. worldw1de h-
cen,t' to u,e any IP content th.it vou post on or m connection with Facebook (IP
Lln:me)" (Facebook Statement of Rights Jlld Re,pon,1bilim, ~). F.icebook's l'tod-
,w .f wb,111r 1, tht· result of a pron·,, 111 which tht• Facebook pl.itform and hum.m
br,1111,as 111,rrumenrsJre used for o~-.amzmg hu111.1nexperience, 111 such a way
tl1.1tJ..ita n:presennng indffidual and ,ocial expenence- Jnd av.iilable pubhdy or to
,t defined ,onal group " created as u,e-,·alue that ,an,tie- the u,er;' need, of n1.1k-
lll!! parts of their h,·es ,i,1ble to other-. commurncanon and cooperation. Ex.unple,
are th.it a u,er ha, certam idc.1, that ti.,nn the ob3en of labour and then pub!i'.,he,
them on h1,/ her Facebook profile or another u,t•r's \\-.ill.whaeby they hccomt· a
produce of her / h1, onhne work (1.e.a u,e-,·alue that ,.uisfie- the social need, of J
conuuunm .-,.Another example 1s that a u,er ha, created an 1111ai:e or ndeo that , 1
he ,cores on lus l her hard clisk. rlm ob3ect become, a u,e-value if the user uploa~
1t to Liceb,>ok.Anocher user has cert.Un ideas m !us/ her head. They repre,cnt Im /
her t·xperience,. If ~/ he ,ha.re, them on Facebook by ,endmg .1 me"age to friend,.
the ideas become a u,e-\·alue for others. Proc<."'.>,e- such as upJ..iting profiles. up-
loading content .ind conunmucating with other-. are concrete work process tlut
ere.Ht' products tlut -.amfr the mformaoonal. commurncaove and ,ocial needs of
hum.m groups. J\1.trx argued that 111 c.1p1tah,mlabour ha, at the same rune ,m ab-
,rract and a roncrt·te dimension: 1t creJtes ,-alue and u,e-,·alue,.Thi, mean, that the
products tlut are created by facebook u,ers do not Just ,ati,~· the users· human
need, but aho ,erw Facebook·s profit interests. Facebook turns per;on.tl protilc
dJt,1. usage behanour tl.ita on the Facebook platform. usage beh.w1our dJta on
other platform,. ,ocial network data .ind contem cl.it.I (image,. ndeo,. me,"1i:es.
postlll!,.>S) mto data commodme,. Thi, mc.m, th.tt the u,e-,·,1lue; ti1Jt Facebook
user- neate are at the ,lJne time c01runodmes that Facebook offer- for S.lle on a
market. Facebook usage 1s work (concrete labour) and l.tbour (ab,tmct labour ) .tt
the -.ame ome: it generat~ use-value, and t·conomic \-alue. Facebook =ge is the
cormecoon of a work and a ,·alonz.ition process. Hmnan subJectinty and hun1J11
,oaJhty 1, put to u,e for capital .iccumulaoon ..-\11 orilinl' ome of a mer h produc-
ove \\'ork time: tt 1s permant•ntly moruton:d and ,torl'tl and packaged together
with ,1m.ibr user,· J..icamto a d..itaconunodin · thJt 1sotfored for ;,aleto adverti,mg
client,. The cre.mon of tlus dJta conunoilin · 1, based on not only all tune thl'
258 Analysing Digital labour

1m·oh.-eduser; spend on Facebook. but aho the work time oftho,e who are em-
ployed 111Facebook\ adwrn,ing deparnnem. Data conunoditie, .ire pack.if:cd m
such a form that they represent specific u,er group, with certam dem~,raph!C
ch.u-acceri,cn and imere-,t,. Thev are offered to ad,·ercismg chem,. who b\' pur-
ch,mng the commodity obtain as J use-,·alue the po,,1biluy to present t.irgeteJ
ad,·erti;111gm=ge, to the defined user group. Facebook fim control, the dita
conunodit\ ,b a u,e-,·alue but 1s only mtere-.ted 1111r..exchange ,.ilue. that is. the
mone\' sum it can obtain by selling it. In the sale, proce,,. Facebook exchange,
u,e-n.lue for money and the ad,-em,mg chem, obt.1m me-\-a.lue by pa~,ng money
It 1simportant to note that Facebook user., create t\\'O dufenng use-\·a.Jue5b\'
the same digital work: communication and public \isibihty J<; their own need,
and the po"1bi.hty that the-. are confronted \nth targeted ad;. \\'e can therefore
,peak of the double char.in er of Facebook ·, u,e-\'alue: on the one hand. u,er.. pro-
duce use-,·.tlues for them,el\'es and other-.: they create a ,ooa.1 relanon bet\\'een
user, and pubhc vi,ib1hty. On the other h.ind. user, produce u,e-\-a.lue, for capital.
that is. targeted ad\'ems111g,pace for the .id\·emslllg indmtry. For Facebook. both
use-,-a.lue, are imcrumema.l for ach1e,-ing exchange ,·.tlue----elling to the .idwm,-
ing lllduscry what 1t wants 1,1dspace) and what is produced by the users. The dual
char.icter of use-value stem, from the arcumstance that the Facebook product/
use-value 1smformational: 1t can be exchanged with money and at the ,ame wne
st.iv under the control of the user-..This double ch.ir.icter of the lhe-,-a.lue makrs
the Facebook product a pecti.har product: 1t ,en·e-, u,ers· own -;ocial need, and the
commercial needs of ad,·ermers. At the same rune. the conunerc1al use-,-.tlue 1,
hN controlled by Facebook and enables the exchange-\-a.lue character and com-
mod.1ficanon of u,er data. Infonnation ha5 .i pecuhar ch.1racter: "The problem
\\ith cultural and infom1a11onal goods " that. bec.iuse therr me n.lue i, a.lmo,t
hnutless (they cannot be de-tro~-ed or con,umed bv use., 1t 1, e:\.-rremelydifficult to
attach an exchange \·alue to them .. (Garnham 19l)(). 38).
V.ilue on Facebook meam the awrage time that user-; ,pend on the platfonn
The law of ,·alue on Facebook means that the more time a certa111group ,pend,
on the platform. the more valuable the corresponding dita conunodity gets.:\
group that on aYerage spends a lot of minute, per day on Facebook (e.g. the
group of those aged 15-25) compared to another group (e.g. the group oftho,e
aged 75-85) commutes .i more valuable data commodity brcau<e (a) 1t h.b a
higher a\·er,1ge labour/onhne tm1e per day that generate~ more data dut can be
mid and (b) 1t ,pend, more nme online. during which ta11=etedad, .ire pre,enced
to chi- group.
Mark Andreje\,c 2012. 85) argues "user; han- little choice o,·er whether"
cran,.icnon data on conuneroa.1 sooal media "1s generated and little -,av m how
it h used: in this ,ense we might de,cnbe the generanon and u,e of thi, data a,
the alienated or e,tr.inged dnnen,1011 of therr actinty". AndreJC\X ,:2111J.154)
argm.">that in this form of e,tranged free labour. users do not ha\·e "conm>I O\'er
productive acnvi.ry" and "m, product". U,en '\acnfice a degree of control over
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 259

how our actiYity is used when we agree to the terms of service for a particular
website or online senice .. (ibid .. 156). Eran Fisher (2012. 173) argues that on
Facebook. less alienation-understood as '·a greater possibility to express oneself.
to control ones production process. to objectify one's essence and connect and
commurncate \\ith others'"- results in more e>..-ploitat10nin comparison \,,th
traditional mass media. Facebook would result in de-alienation because the '·au-
dience 1s acm·ely engaged in the production of media content. Audiencing en-
tails deep engagement \Vith the media, operung up the opportunity for authentic
self-expression. and for communication and collaboration \\ith others. [... ]
a !ugh level of exploitation of audience work enabled by social media is dia-
lectically linked \\ith a low level of alienation .. (ibid .. 182). For PJRey (2012).
usage of corporate social media IS non-alienated because the "immaterial'' la-
bour conducted there does not separate intellectual and physical acti"·ities and
usage would be ,·ohmtary. self-motiYated and spontaneous. All three approaches
agree that digual labour is explotted by capital. They differ however in the un-
demanding of the concept of alienation. V:'hereas for Andrejenc alienation is
a more structural process that has to do with the users· non-control of onhne
surveillance processes and non - ownership of the products (profits) of surYeil-
lance. Fisher and Rey ha,·e a more subJecti,·e concept of alienanon that has to
do \\ith isolat10n. (in)Yoluntary action and intellectual acti,i~·. This difference
can be O\·ercome by distinguislung between objective conditions of al1enanon
and subjectiw feelings of alienation. In a passage in the Crundrisse,Marx makes
clear which elements of alienation there are in capitalism: the worker is alien-
ated from (a) herself himself because labour is controlled by capital. (b) the
material oflabour. (c) the object oflabour and (d) the product of labour. "The
material on which it [labour] works is alien material; the instrument is likewise
an alien instrument; its labour appears as a mere accessory to their substance
and hence obJectifies itself in thmgs not belonging to it. Indeed, liYing labour
itself appears as alien Yis-a-,is li\ing labour capacity. whose labour it is. whose
own life s expression it is. for it has been surrendered to capital in exchange
for objectified labour, for the product of labour itself.[ ... ] [L]abour capacity's
own labour is as alien to it- and it really is. as regards its direction ecc.-as
are matenal and instrument. \Vhich is why the product then appears to it as
a combination of alien material. alien instrument and alien labour--as alien
property" (Marx 1857 1858b. 462). These four elements of alienation can be
related to the labour process that consists in a Hegelian sense of a subject, an
obJect and a subject-object. Alienation is alienation of the subject from itself
Qabour-power 1s put to use for and is controlled by capital). alienation from
the object (the objects of labour and the mstrumems of labour) and alienation
from the subject-object (the products of labour). On social media, users are
objecti, ·ely alienated because in relation to subjectiYity they (a) are coerced by
isolation and social disadvantage if they leave monopoly capital platforms (such
as Facebook), in relatmn to the objects of labour; (b) their human experiences
260 Analysing Digital Labour

come under the control of capital. m relanon to the instruments of labour:

(c) the platform, art· owned not by u,ers but by pn\',1te compJrues thJt aho com -
modi11·u,er d1ta. and m relanon to the product of labour: (d\ monetary protic 1s
mdi\'idually controlled by the platform\ owners. The,e four fonm of ahenation
coll'-ntute together capital\ e:,..-pl01tanon
of digit:tl labour on ,oaal media. ,-\lienanon
of digital IJbour concern, labo1:.r-power. the obJect and Uhtrumen~ of labour and
the created product~ . Figure 11 2 5U1nm.1nze,thh manifold alienation proce" in
the ca,e of Facebook .
Congole,e n1111er-.Foxconn worker-. lndun ,md Caliform.m ,ofn\·,1re engi-
neer,. call centrt' \\'orkef' .ind ,oc1al media pm,umer- are all ahenatt-d m the ,eme
that they do not own the profit, and product, the, produce . In the ca,e of ,ocial
med1.1.mer,. tl1t·,1manon 1,.howeYer. somehow dillerent .They cre.1te two ditler-
em u,e -\·.tlues by tht· ,.une digital work : commumunon and public n,ibilit) : and
the pmsihiliry that they are confronted \\ 1th tJrgeted at!-..\Ve t·an therefore ,peak
of the double character of use-\ ·.tlue, on corporate ,oc1.tl medu : on the one hand.
user- produce 1,,e-\-:Uuesfor chermeh-e- and ocher;-they ere 1te a ,ooal relanon
benwen u,er, and pubbc nsibilm·. On tht· other hJnd. mer'\ produce u,e-\'a.lues
for capital. that 1s. targeted Jdwrnsrn!?: ,p.1ce for the adwrusin~ mdustr\' ,The dual
character of thl' u,e-\'alue make~ the Facebook product pecuhar: It ,er\'e, mers·
own social need, and the (ommercial nel'lh of ad\"l'rtiser-. At the ,Jme time. the
conunernal u,e-,-:ilue 15 tir>t controlled lw corporate plartorm, and enable-. the
exchange-\·alue character and commoditiratton of u\er data. There 1, aho a \pe -
cific form of coerc1011th.it take-,on a sonal form: It~ann!?a corporate platform 1,

Alienation o(/al>our power Alic11ario11fromthi· means o.fprod11ction

by socia l nolcnce. Coercion Object ot l.ibour .......--....
In,rn1mcnts o'.' labour:
Human C"l.periences pri\'ate owner.hip of
by isola11onand social
come under capitah, platform,. ~o..:1almedia
disadYantages control ideoloine,

FIGURE 11.2 The alienat10n ot dig.ml labour on corporate ,on1l media

 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 261

not so easy if one has many contacts there because one is facing the threat of fewer
contacts and communicatire impoverishment.
Marx argued that cornmodines ha\·e an ideological character that he tenned the
fetish character of the commodiry: ·The mysterious character of the conunodiry-
form consists therefore simply in the fact that the commodity reflects the societal
characteristics of men's m,m labour as obJective characterisncs of the products
of labour themseh·es. as the socio-natural properties of these things. Hence it
also reflects the social relation of the producers to the sum total of labour as a
social relation between objects. a relation which exists apart from and outside
the producers .. (Marx 1867c. 16-l-165) . This means that the social relatiom that
form a commodity are not \·isible in rhe conunodity itself as 1t presents itself to
the consumer. In the world of digital labour on social media. the fetish character
of the commodity cakes on an inverted form. \Ve can speak of an inverse fetish
character of the social media commodity. The commodity character of Facehook
data is hidden behind the social use- value of Facebook (i.e. the social relations
and functions enabled by platfom1 use).The inverse fetish ofFacebook is typtcally
eA7>ressedin statements like '"Facebook does not exploit me because I benefit
from it by connecting to other users··. The object status of users- that is. the fact
that they serve the profit interests of Facebook-is hidden behind the social net-
\\·orking enabled by Facebook. The in1pression that Facebook only benefits users
socially is one-sided because it forgets chat this social benefit. the social relaoons
and the obtained nsibilit)~ are at the heart of the commercial and corporate side
of Face book. its exchange-Yalue and commodity dimension. Exchange -value gets
hidden in use-value: the object side of Facebook hides itself in social relations.
The object side ofFacebook is grounded in social relations between Fa.cebook, ad
clients and users: the exchange relaoon between Facebook and ad\·ertisers on the
one hand and coupled to it the advertising relation between adYertisers and users.
Both relations are necessary for creating profit for both Facebook and the ad,·er-
nsers. These commercial relations do not immediately present themselves to the
users. ,-..-homamly see the relationships between themseh-es and other users. The
conm1ercial relations that constitute the commodity side of Facebook are hidden
behind the social relations between users. Facebook takes advantage of its im ·erse
fetish character by presenting itself as orgaruzation that is about sharing and social
relations and not about profit. The discussion shows that there is a class relation
between Facebook and its users that constitutes a process of econonuc exploita-
tion. Facebook is rich in data about its users: it is one of the largest data controllers
111 the world, It is also nch in the sense that it generates profit from selling these

data as commodities. The users appear to pnmarily benefit from Facebook usage.
to become richer in social relations by this use. But the ir pm·erty is hidden behmd
the appearance of social wealth . They are the online poor because they lack the
freedom to enter online relations that are nor controlled by capital (the poverty of
digital labour-power: almost the entire Internet 1s controlled by comparues). they
lack the ownership and control of corporate online platforms (po\·erty m relation
262 Analysing Digital Labour

to the ithtrumenr, oflabour), they lad: conrrol on~r e:-..1m.·"111g their expenence,
online mdependently from l.lpital (poverty m rdaoon to the objen, of labour)
and fin.illy they !Jrk the O\\ nership of the data ronunodirie, they create and the
monetary profit th.1t 1s cherehy ~nerated (po\·erty m relaoon to the produces of
labour) .Tlus mamlc.)!dpoverty of the d1g1talworkmp: class 1' .1tthe ,ame rime the
sourct' of wealth: they are the producers of onlme wealth that 1s appropna ted by
capaal : the onlme nme mey ,pend on platfomb " produ(m·e work and labour
nme tlut t' \.tlonzed ,1I1dproduce-,. mom:y cap1t.1!th.1t 1' cn·ated but not owned
by the mcrs.The d,1,s of the few (the owners ofFaccbook) benefits at the e;,__-peme
of the d.i,, of tht' many ,the u,ers of Facebook) The fact dut mer~ are the sourt·e
of online wealth en.ible-, thcm m pnnnple to o\'ercome their own po,·erty by
becoming the collective m,1,ter of their collt.·ctt\·ewealth .
But there 1, aho a subJerm·e di.tne1Non of ahenanon on Farebook . In h1,
book 'I11r I...,,,,~R rl\llur1,,,, R.,nnond \Villiam, (1961. 6➔) defined the notion of
the ~trunure of fedmg ,b •· ,1p.irorular ,eme of hfr·...··a p,trtintlar rommumty of
e:-..-penenn:".through which a way of lite obtam, "a particular and duractenstir
colour" . It 1, the " rukure of a penod" (ibid.) and ronunumcatton depends on It
,631. It i, the ,,:1y a p:ener,mon ··re-,.pond, in it, own \\.iy, to the unique world 1t
1, inheriting" (ibid). It get, rxpres,ed. for example. m the "documentary ntlture".
,uch a, poem,. bmldmgs; and dre-;,-fa,luom . Tht' ,trucrure of feeling 1, an exprn-
,1011 of the e:-..-pene1Ke of how 1t 1s to liH· ma cert.un rune under certam ,onetal
rond trion,. Given that each modern tune has it, own das, ,tructurcs ,111dson,11
conflict,. earh prnod mtM h.iw its own conflicttng ,trucrnre, of feding-.. It may
thereforr be better to ~peak not oi a ,trucrure of teehng 111 me sm!?lJl.irbut of
ancago1w,ncstrurturcs of feclmg in rhr plural. \Vill.untS ( 196 I. 307) abo ,a~-sthat
the ··exprncnce of 1,olaoon. of alienanon. and of ,clf -e,ale 1, an important part
ofmr contemporary ,rructure ofteel111g". He hen- hmrs at thl· c1rn11mt.mcethat
teehng-, of alienamm can bc part of the ,rrurn1rc of teehng-, of a pamcula.r da,,.
What ,tructurc of leeling-, do mer. of FKebook lh,play? T he structure of feeling
of a ,onal media plattorm 1, formed by tl1e usl·r-· typtcal pJttern of , ·alues. sen,e
of us.1gl' Jnd atfrcr- . Their donunant ,cnicture of feeling " likely to be different
from thl· ones of pl,itform owners bt·cause they t'!l.-perienn• the pl,itform m a
diiferem sonal rolr ~tntentrc, )f feeling of the u,ers can abo be internally con-
tradtcton .md conte,ted. and the dominant u,er ,tructurc of teeling can change
oyer tune. So F,1n•book and other rorporate son.ti mech.i are likely to ha\·e con-
flJCong,trucrure, of teding .The emp1ric.tl que,non 1f corporate ,oci.tl media usc
1se:-.-pa1enced a, unahenated. althou!,":hIt tS ol,_1ectl\·dyalienated m the fourfold
sense pointed ollt t'.lrher. 1, ,1 question about corporJte sonal media u,t'rs· struc-
ture of leelings. \Ve ran distin!?lJi,h between thc obJective rondiriom of alienat10n
and u,l•r-' ,rrucrun" of feelmg-. on ,oc1al media . They arc d1alectically med.tared
with e.1d1 other : the obJe,ti,·t' cond1riom of ,onal m.ediJ ,,uch ,1, t 11e market
condioom. e.g. monopoh·. O\\'nership ~trurture,. d,lta prore~~mp:.the tt'rm~ of mc
and pnvary pohc~. the form of me u,e of adwm,mg. l'tl condmon certam
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 263

user e)\.-periencesand structures of feelings. The dominant structure of feelings of

the users in remrn can influence the objective conditions of platfonns. If users
massi,·ely protest against perceiYed princy ,-iolations. leave a platform and join
another one. then their objective conditions of usage change from one comext
(e.g. Facebook) to another one (e.g. Diaspora*). Tim d.minction allows one co
grasp both subjecti\ ·e and objective dimensions of social media alienation and
their interco1mection.
Facebook labour creates commodities and profits. It is therefore productiYe
work. It 1s.howe,·er. unpaid work and 111 this respect shares characteristics of other
irregular workforce~. especially house workers and sla\·es. who are also unpaid.A t
the same time, Facebook users are facing quite differenc ·working conditions in
the respect that house workers· actni.ties are predominantly involvmg care work.
se)\."Ual
work and exhausting physical work and that slaws are the priYate prop-
erty ofsla, ·e masters. by whom they can be killed if they refose work.\Vha t these
work types share is the characteristic that the workers are all unpaid and as unpaid
workers create more surplus value and profit than in a situation in which their
labour would be conducted by regular labour that is paid. One hundred per cent
of their labour time is mrplus labour time. which allows capitalists to generate
extra surplus value and extra profits .
Antonio Negri uses the term "soaal worker" for arguing that there 1s a broad-
ening of the proletanat-"a ne,\ · working class.. that is "now extended through-
out the entire span of production and reproduction·· (Negri 1982 '1988. 209). He
here takes up Marx·s idea of the collective worker that forms an aggregated and
comb ined workforce. is heterogeneous and forms a whole of singularities that is
necessary for creating profit. Negri (197111988) first de,·eloped this concept in a
reading of Marx"s ··Fragment on Machines·· in the Gnmdrisse. He argued that the
main contradiction of capitalism is that money is the specific measure of Yaluc.
while labour with the development of the producti,·e forces acquires an increas-
ingly social character and so questions value. The soaalization of labour would
ha,·e resulted in the ··emergence of a massified.and socialised working class·· (ibid ..
104). The notion of the soaaJized ,vorking class was later deYeloped into the
concept of the mcial worker (Negri 1982/1988). which emerged by a reorgani-
zation of capitalism that dis:;oh-ed the mass worker that had been characterized
by Taylori,m. Fordism. Keynesianism and the planner-state (ibid .. 205). The social
worker signifies ..a growmg awareness of the interconnection between productive
labour and the labour of reproduction"" (ibid .. 209). the emergence of"diffuse
labour .. (= outsourced labour. 214) and mobile labottr (= labour flexibility. 218).
The ad,·antage of the concept of the ~ocial worker. which is a reformulation of
Marx"s notion of the collective worker in the context of informational and post-
Ford.ist capitalism.. is that it allm•:s us to consider also irregular and w1paid workers
(house workers . .Ja,·es. precarious workers, rnigr.int workers. education work-
ers. public sen-ice workers. the unemployed. etc.) as producri,·e labourers (Fuchs
2010b). Negri. ho\\·e,·er, goes so far as to say chat "labour rime'" as a consequence
264 Analysing Digital labour

of this tendency "becomes increasingly irrele\·ant in the context of a full sociah-

sanon of the produccve machine" (Negri 1971 1988. 100). Tlus is just another
formulation for saying that the law of value ceases to exist- it is ..in the process
of extinction" (ibid., 148).As a con:;equence. Negri assumes that communism is
near: "communism is the present-day tendency, an acm·e force operating in the
here and now" (ibid., 112). The law of ,-a.Jueoperates as long as capitalism ex-
ists: it does not stop operating because of the emergence of social or knowledge
work and has in fact not stopped operating in all the years that ha,·e passed since
Negri first formulated this idea. The labour tune of a specific part of the social
worker can perfectly be measured: it is the a\·erage number of hours of unpaid
work perfom1ed by a specific group or overall in a society. That the socialization
of work increases because of the rise of producti\ity means that the time needed
for producing certain goods has historically decreased. High producti, ·ity is a
precondition of communism. but 1t is nor communi~m itself and does not auto-
matically lead to communism. There are communist po tentials v.,thin capitalism:
however. communism can only be established by struggles. Notwithstanding these
limits of Negris approach, the logical consequence of the concept of the social
or collective worker is that one is exploited and productive if one is part of the
collective worker that produces commodities. Digital labour on Facebook and
other corporate digital media is enabled by and connected to an entire ,-a.Jue
chain and global sphere of explan ation that constitutes the ICT industry. The
reality of lCTs today is enabled by the existence of a plenitude of exploited
labour: the slave labour of people of colour in Africa who extract minerals. out
of which lCT hardware is produced. the highly ex'Ploited labour of industrial
workers in China and other countnes who assemble hardware tools. the labour
oflow-paid sofhvare engineers and knowledge workers in de,·eloping cow1tries.
the acti,-ities of a labour aristocracy of highly paid and highly stressed engineen
m Western sofu.vare companies. the labour of precarious sen-ice workers in the
knowledge industry that process data (e.g. call-centre workers) and the digital
labour of unpaid users. All of these \"arted fomlS of exploited labour depend Oil
each other and are needed for creating profits in the ICT industrr Knowledge
workers of the world are therefore connected by the circunma.nce that they are
all e:iq>lonedby capital. They form a combined labour force. the social ICT and
knO\Yledge worker that fonns a knowledge proletariat. The question that there-
fore arises is if the social knowledge proletariat of the world ,\ill organize itself
politically and become a class-for-itself that struggles against capitalism.
In the digital labour debate. Oil the one hand some scholar.. han: stressed that
"social media'' enable participatory culture (Jenkins 2008) or enable a "'making
and doing' culture" (Gauntlett 2011. 11) and everyday creativity (ibid .. 221). The
stress is on participatory culture and new forms of sharing . connecting. making
and cre-ati\ity (Bruns 2008: Gauntlett 2011 :Jenkins 2008: Slurk)· 2008. 2011). On
the other hand, there are authors who stress that Facebook and other commercial
online media ,,.-hose profits are based on targeted advertising are grounded in
 Theorizing Digital labour on Social Media 265

the exploitation of users' labour and the commodificat10n of personal data (e.g.
AndreJevic 2011. 20 12: Fuchs 2010b ). In this context. Marxist labour theones of
value that were applied to commercial mass media have been employed and up-
dated. namely Dallas Smythe's (1977a. 1981) concept of audience work / audience
commodity (Fuchs 2010b ) and Sut Jhally and Bill Livam·s (1986/ 2006) notion
of the work of w-atching (Andrejevic 2009) . There are scholars who han~ pointed
out that claims about social media and participatory culture are ideological and
overdrawn and celebrate capitalism and that the reality of ..social media· · is a new
fonn of eiqiloitation and alienation (Andreje\ic 20 12: Curran. Fenton and Freed-
man 2012: Fuchs 2010b, 2013: ,·an Dijck 2013). Tlus debate can be interpreted
with the help of Marx's analysis of the dual character of labour as concrete work
that produces use-nlues and abstract labour that generates Yalue.
Marx (1867c. 131) has argued that a commodity is "an object with a dual char-
acter. possessing both use-value and exchange-\·alue ". It saosfies human needs and
is exchanged against money. The satisfaction of human needs has thereby become
dependent on the commodity and money form . Gl\'en that the commodity has
a dual character. the work that creates rhe commodity also has a dual character: it
generates both use-values (work ) and \-alue (labour). Use-value generation is an
anthropological feature of economic production. whereas \-alue and exchange-
\.Uue are historical features. Marx theorized both the essential and the historical
feantres of society by pointing out the dialectical character of capitalism. labour
and commodities. Given that "social media .. result in the accumulation of capital.
they are connected to the commodity fonn and therefore the dual character of
the commodity and the work process also must apply to these type of media.The
dual character of commodities and work is often overlooked if claims are made
that social media are either new forms of creativity. sociality and participation
or new forms of explmtation. The first claun focuses on the use-,.tlue fonn, the
second on the exchange-,.tlue fom1 of social media . But conm1odities ha,·e both
a use-\.tlue and exchange-,-alue form and are crystallizations of concrete labour
(work ) and abstract labour. So the two cl:ums about social media are inherently
mtenwined. and dialecocal thinking allo\"\'Sus to understand this connection: for
Facebook. Twitter.You Tube and corporate blog platforms to exist, users need to
be qwte active. social. creatiYe and networked. The online work they perform on
social media is infomiational work. affective work. cognitive work. communica-
tive work, conununity work and collaborative work . This work creates profiles.
content, transaction data and social relations. The use-\.tlue of social media is that
they allow users to inform themselves. share. communicate and collaborate as well
as build and maintain communities. Social media's use-\.Uue are its informational
features: they are cools for cognition. communication and cooperation. Bue this
use-\.Uue 1ssubsumed under the exchange-\.Uue of social media that requires and
is grounded m concrete work processes: the activities. social relations and creative
expressions that create the use-,.tlue of social media also form economic ,.tlue
and thereby create data commodities that are sold to targeted ad\·ertisers. achiew a
266 Analysing Digital Labour

m.irket price and hdp soci.il media corporanon, to achil'\"e profit,. Vseh ' creatn·-
11');,hanng .ind act1\'lty COIU1l'Cnng I\ gl·neranng me-\'alue and exch.mge-,-.ilue--

1c1, concrete work ,md abscr,Kt labour . The u,e-, ·alue of ,o(ial media is ,ubmmed
under exrhange-\'alue but at the same nme rt•presem, a ,ooahz.inon of labour
thJt points to and h,, the potennal co go beyond the commodity form. Ir 1, one
of the germ, of a u,e - ,·alue economy .
CapitJlt,m connects labour and pl.1y in J destrurtiw dtalenic. Tr.iditionally.
plJy m the form of enJO~T11ent. 5ex and enrertJ11m1ent was m cap1uh,m onh ·
part of ,p.ire time. wluch ,,~1, unproducti\'e and separJte from labour. Sigmund
Freud (l %1 ) argued that the structure of dnn~s ts ch,1rJcterized by a di,tlectic
oi Ero, 1dn\'e for hte. se~7.laht'):lu,t ) and ThanJto, (dn\'e for death. de---truction,
aggre,s1on). Humans would ,rri, ·e for the permanent re.ilizanon of Ero, (plea-
mrc principle). but culture would only become po!;:;1bleby a tempora l ne)!ation
.ind ,uspem1on of Ero, and the tr.11hformanon of eronc energy mto culture and
bbour. Labour would be a productt\'e form of desexualization-the reprt,,1011
of ,e~7.laldri,·e-. Freud speak- in thi, context of the realit')· principle or ,ublima-
non . The reahty pnnc1ple ,ublate, the plea,ure pnnc1ple: human culture sub-
lates human nature and becomes man\ ,econd nature. M.ircuse ( 1955) connected
Freud'; theory of dn,·es to :\tarx·, tht.'o~· of l·ap1talism He argued that alienatt'd
labour. donunation. Jnd cap1t.tl accumulanon ha,·e mmed tht• realtt')· principle
mco a rep?\'ssl\"e re.iii!')· pnnnple--the pertormance principle: ,illl'llated labour
con,mme- .1. ,urplu,-repres~ion of Ero, . The repre,~1011of the pk•a,ure pnnciple
take, on a qu.innry that exceeds tht• culmr ,tlly nece"at\· ,uppl'1.",ion. :'.\1.1rcuse
connected .:'vlarx\ notions of nece-,,.1ry labour and ,urplm labourhaluc to the
Freudian dn,·e ,rructure of human, and argued that nece,--a.ryLibour on the le\'el
of drn.-e, correspond, to necessary ,uppre5,1O11.ind surplus l.ibour co ,urplu,-
represS1on. Thi, meam chat in order to exist. J ,oetet')· needs a certun amount of
nt.'Ce'-Sdl;'l.1hour \measured 111 hour-; of work) .md henCl' a certJm corre,-pondi11g
Jmount oi ,uppre--ion of thl• pleasure pnnnple (.1lsollll',1,ured 111 hours).The ex-
ploitanon of ,urplu, \'alue (hhour thJt 1, performed for free and )!enerate, profit)
would mean nor 01tly that worker-; .ire forced to work for tree for capital to a
certam extent. but al,o that the plea,ure prinnple must he additionally ,upprc'>Sed.
"Behind the realm; principle lie, the fondamem.il fact of An.mke or ,carciry
tl.Lbe1,s11,
11). wluch meJm that the struggle for ex1,tence take,-place 111 a world roo
poor for the sari~facnon of human ncl·d, ,,·1thour comranr restramt. remmnanon.
delay. In other word,. whatewr sari,fan1on i, pli-,1ble necess1tJte, work. more or
le" pa111ful.1rr.ingcments .111dunderrakmgs lc.)r the procurement of tht· meJ1h
for ,.1.ti.f-111!:!
need,. For the duranon ot work. which ocn1pies pr.ictically the en-
nre extstence of thl• mature mdindual, plea,urt' 1, ·,u,pended' and pain pre,-.uls"
(M.ircuse 1955. 35). In socicnt>,, that ,1re ba,t•d on the prmctpll' of dom111Jnon.
the reality prinnpk takes on the form of the pl·rfurmance principle. Domm.irion
··1' cxern,t-d by .i particular group or mdi\'1dual m order to ,u,tJm md enhance

mdf 111a pnY1leged ,m1anon" (ibid .. J6) .The pt.>rform,1nccpnnnple 1s connected

 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 267

to surplm-repressmn. a term that describes "the restrictions necessitated by so-

cial domination" (ibid .. 35). Domination inrroduces ·'additional controls over and
abO\·e those indispensable for civilized human association'" (ibid., 37).
Marcuse (1955) argues that the performance principle means Thanatos go,·-
ems humans and society and alienaaon unleashes aggressive drives ,,.,thin humans
(repressive desublimation) that result in an overall \·iolem and aggressive society.
As a result of the high productivity reached in late-modern society. a historical
alternati\·e would be possible: the elimination of the repressi\·e reality principle.
the reduction of necessary \vorkmg tune to a minimum and the maximization
of free time, an eroticization of society and the body. the shaping of society and
humans by Eros. and the emergence of libidinous social relations. Such a devel-
opment would be a historical posSibiliry-but one incompatible '",th capitalism
and patriarchy.
Luc Boltanski and E\·e Chiapello (2007) argue that the me of paracipatory
management means the emergence of a new spirit of capitalism that subsumes
the antJ.-authoritarian values of the political revolt of 1968 and the subsequently
emerging New Left---such as autonomy, spontanei ty, mobility. creati\-ity, net-
working. \'isions. openness. plurality. informality. authenticity, emancipation, and
so on-under capital. The topics of the movement '\YOuldnow be put into the
sen;ce of those forces that it wanted to destro}:The outcome ·would have been
"the construction of the new. so-called 'network" capitalism" (ibid.. 429) so that
artistic critique-\Yhich calls for authentiaty. creativity.freedom and autonomy in
contrast to social critique, which calls for equality and overcoming class (37-38)-
today '•indirectly serves capitalism and is one of the instruments of its ability to
endure'· (490). Play labour 1s a new ideology of capitalism: objectively alienated
labour 1s presented as creati\;ty . freedom and autonomy that is fun for workers.
That workers should haw~fun and love their obJective alienation has become a
new ideological strategr of capital and management theory. Facebook labour is an
e:11.--pression
of play labour ideology as an element of the new spirit of capitalism.
Gilles Deleuze (1995) has pointed out that in contemporary capitalism, disci-
plines are transformed in such a way that humans increasingly discipline them-
selves w1thout direct els.1:ernalv10lence. He terms this situation the society of
(self-)comrol. It can for example be obsen ·ed in the strategies of partiapatory
management. This method promotes the use of mcentives and the integration of
play into labour. It argues that work should be fun and workers should perma-
nently develop new ideas. realize their creativity, enjoy free time within the factory
and so on. The boundaries between work time and spare time. labour and play.
become fuzzy.Work rends to acquire quahties of play. and entertainment in spare
time tends to become labour-like. Working time and spare time become insepa-
rable. The factory extends its boundaries into society and becomes what Mario
Tron ti (1962) has termed a social factory: '·The more capitalist development pro-
ceeds, i.e. the more the production of relative surplus \-alue asserts and extends
itself, the more the cycle producnon--disttibution--exchange-conswnption
268 Analysing Digital Labour

do,e-- mdf me\·1tJhh·. the societal rdanon hem·cen cap1talist producnon and
bourg:eoh ,ociet\'. berm:l'n factory and ,onery. bet\\"een sonc:ty and the ,t,1te be-
come more and more orgaruc. At tht• high<"-tlen•I of cap1t.1li-rdewlopmenr tht'
,onetal rd.mon bet·ome, a moment of the rd.mon, of producnon. Jnd tht· whole
of ,onet:y become- cati-e and expres,ion of producnon. i.e. the whole society liw,
a\ a function of the fanory and the fJcrorv extend, its exdusn·c dommaoon to
the whole of ~onet\·. [... ]\?/hen the factory r.mcs it-t:•lfto the master of the whole
of ,oaety-the enore ,onetal produenon bt·come, 111dusm.1l producoon-. then
the ,pecific characreri,ric, of tht' factory get lmt insidt' of the general ch.iracten,-
nc, of sonety" (1h1d.. J(}-J l. tramlanon from Gernun) ..Ai.tthe same omc .i, work
tim<.> Jnd ,pare ome get blurred m tht• ,onal factory. work-related ,tress intens1fa•s
and property relaoon.. remam unchan~ed. The expl01r.irion of Imernec u,er, by
Facebook (and other Internet comp.uues) i, an a,pect of this tr.msform.mon. It
-;igiutiestlut pn\'ate Internet u,;.ige.wluch i, mocinted b,.-pl.i~:emertamment. fun
and JOy-aspech of Ero,-h.1, becomt' ,ub,umed under capital ,md h,v, become
a sphere of the e:-.-plonationof l.ibour. le produces ,urplu, \-;uue for capital and
is explo1ted by the lam~r so th.it lntt'met corpor,mons .1ccunml.1teprotit. Pl.iy
and labour are today mdiscinguishable. Ero, has become fully ,ub,un1eJ under
the repre"1w re.ility pnnnple. Play " largdy commod1fieJ: there 1s no longt•r
free rime or spJce, that are not e:--.-pl01ted by capital. Play is tod.1~·productm.•.
surplu,-\',llue-~•neraon)? labour that 1, e:-.-plo1tedby capital All human actl\itlt">.
and therefore aho all play. tend, under the contemporuv condmons to become
,ub,un1ed under and exploited by capital. PIJ\· a, an expre-,1on of Ero, 1, thereby
de-.troyed.hmnan freedom and human capacine, crippled. On Facebook. play and
labour com·erge into pby labour that 1, exploited for cap1t.1laccumulaoon. Face-
book therefore ,t.mds filr the total conunod1ficano11and expl01tanon of mne--all
human nme ten,h to become ,urplu,-\·alue -generJong nme that i, exploited by
capital. Tahle 11.J ,mnrn.mzes the applKanon of MarcU5e\ theory of pby. labour
and pleasure to Facebook and ,ocial media.
\Vork ,t,mcb m a dialt·cocal relanon wtth play: In play. humans haw the free-
dom to dn with the objt•crs of play whatewr one want'- to do:'"In .i single cos, of
a bJll. the pl.1yerachie\·e, .111 mfoutely greater triumph of human freedom over the
obJecti\'e world than in the mo,t 111.1,\1...-e accomplishment of tt'chmcal labor"
(~1.ircust· 1933. 128). Play ha, '"no duranon or perm .mence. It happens es,enoally
in 'imen·ak. 'between· the time, of other dom~">that commually donunatc hun1an
D,hcm" (1b1d.).l11,oneaes wheoc work 1s t01I.play would be dialectically related
to work in such ;1 \\"JY that It 1, an e,c.1pe from it: "Play 1, self-J1stracnon. sdf-
relaxacion. ,elf-recuperation for the pllTpt•;eof a new concentration. ten,ion. ere.
Thu, play 1, m a, totaluy neces,,mly rcl,1ted to an other from wluch 1t come~ and
at which 1t i- aimeJ. and thi, other 1, already precoucei\·ed as lab,,, through tlw
ch.1r.1cten,ncs of regimt·ntaoon. tenS1on.toil, etc." (1b1d.).Work 1' a durable and
permanent proce" that produce, 0~1ects in the \Yorld that ~ati,I)· hum.111need,.
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 269

TABLE 11.3 Pleasure-; m four modes of sonety (human essence. society with scarcit}: clas-
sical capitalism. capitalism in the age of Facebook)

<?i
£,.-e11.-e /m,,1,111 Re,1/11y prmdple Reprrsm'f' re,1/11y Reprr:;,were,1/itypri11dplr
,lt»ires ill Sf.)!lf/1(> ll'ith pri1mplem d,1ssiml in 1hr11;:r
m c.ipmili,111 of
,,,IITTI)' c,1pir,1/ism Faceb<>,:,k

immediate delaved delayed satisfaction Inuned1ate online

satisfaction ,;tisfaction satisfaction
pleasure restraint of leisure time: Collapse ofleisure rime
pleasure pleasure: work and work time. leisure
tim.-: restraint of tune becomes work
plea_<ure,surplus time and work time
repression of leisure time, all time
plea:mre becomes exploited.
online leisure time
becomes surplus
\-alue-generating, wage
labour time = surplus
repression of pl.-asure.
play labour time = surplu,
,-alue-generating
pleasure time
joy (play) toil (work ) leisure time: joy play labour: joy and play
(play);work tune: as toil and work, toil
toil (work and ,-.-ork as joy and
play
recepm~ness producti\'eness leisure time: Collapse of the distinction
recepti\·eness: berween leisure
"-ork time: time / ,,-ork time
productiYeness and recepti,-eness
producti\'eness. total
commodification of
human time
absence of repression of leimre time: absence play labour time: surplus
repres~ion of pleasure of repression of value generation
pleasure plea_,ure: work appea n to be pleasure -
time: repression like but sen-es the logic
ofplt-asure of repression :the lack
of ownership of capital)

Si>im·,·:B,,ed on a cable irom ,"1.ucu,e 1955. 12:

Play in contrast takes place unregularly and does not im·oh.-e the necessity to
create use-,"alues that satisfy human needs: play has the freedom to do w1th objects
wha tever one likes to. This can im·olve creaung new objects. but also destroy-mg
existing objects or engaging in unprodut-ti\·e acti,icy that 1s pure mdividual JOY
and does not create anything new. This means that m playmg w1th a ball one can
deYelop a new form of game. destroy the ball or just toss it armmd for fun. In play
270 Analysing Digital labour

l.ibour (playbour). the relationship between phy and labour h.i, changed. Where.b
labour b permanent and play irregular. F.icebook playbour Joe-. not uke place at
,pecific mne, either durmg "free nme .. or ..work rune··: rather it can tJke place
any time during wage labour rune. at home or 011 the mo,·c (\·ia mobile dences).
Play labour 1, 1.rregularm the seme that 1t take, place at irregular ume, and mter-
\-a.ls.but 1t" permanent because u,ef' tend to return and upd.1tt·their protile, and
repeat their aco\;ne,. \Vhcreas labour ere.ire, new obJects th,H ha\·e a perm.inency
m the world and <.amt) · human need, and pla, ha, the freedom to do with an
obJect whate,·er one ple.i,es. the Facebook user ha, the freedom to de-1g,1h1,lher
profile howe,·er slhe wants co (but gtYen ~trict lunm by F.icc-book ,uch as the
,watlable input fields. what kind of unages. ndeo, and comm ems are allowed to be
uploaded). but every browsing behanour and Jcti,·ity on Facebook 1, made per-
111.memby bemg m the form of cuta that are ,cored. proce"ed ..maly,ed and com-
mochtied for the purpo,e of targeted ad,·ern,mg . \Vherea, pl.ly 1s rdax.mon and
distraction from the unfreedom ,rnd harcbhip, of labour .rnd at the same nme
recreanon of labour-power. playbour explode, the relative temporal and ,parial
,eparatene" of play and labour: Facebook u,age 1, rela.xation.joy and fun . .lnd at
the same nme. like labour. it create- econonlic ,·alue that re,ults or can result in
monetary profits. ft 1srecreation that generate-. , -alue. consumption th,1t 1sproduc-
m·e. pla,· that is labour . Pia,- is a free acti,;t)- \nthour duration and pennanence;
labour h an unfree acnnt\· wnh duranon and permanerKe . Play labour ha, the
semblance of freedom but 1s unfree in that It creates wealth ,md profit, that are
controlled by others; 1t 1sregular m 1b 1rregulanty. creanng permanence of data
storage and usage in Its impermanence of usage (irregular rime,. no need to rreace
,ometlung new or useful. etc.). It i, fun and JOY that 1s not hke play mamly an
end-m-melf or like labounng an end-for-other-,. It 1s rather a, fun an e11d-111 - 1t-
,el±:a:s~oc1alactiviry an end-for-other:. and as value-creating acmi.cy an end-for-
capital. that 1,. a particulansric end -for-others that moneurily benefit, prince
property owners at the expeme of pl.iy worker, .The que-,non if user. ,ee digital
labour on ,0C1almedia a, a form of e:\.-plonauonor .l fair exchange of access co
platforms for real-time momtonng and commod1fication of mer data 1smamly an
empirical que,tion that needs to be m1died ,nth the help of ,oaal science meth-
ockWe need not only digital labour theory. c:hg1tallabour eth1C,and digual labour
politics. but a.ho cnncal empirical digital labour rt"learch.There are example, tlut
indicate that users poliucally question the commodificanon of soCJ.a.1 media and
the expl01tat1on of digital labour. Couchsurfing.org is a commuruty of tra,·ellen
who use rim platform for finding places to sta\ o,·eni.ight .ind to offer a couch or
a room to travellers who come to their home cities. le 1sa con1111urut)that" ba:.ed
011 the ideas of mutual aid m travelling and makmg tra,·ellrng affordable. Fow1ded
m 2003 a, a non-profit orgaruzation. Couchmrting "connect, tra,·ele[', and locals
who meet offi.ine to ,hare culrure,. hmp1talm and ad,·emurc,-whether on ~
road or m their hometowns. Our Mi,s10111ssimple Create in,pirmg e:--.-penence-, .
We em·1~ion a ,, ·orld where e,·c-ryone can explore and create meJmngful
 Theorizing Digital labour on Social Media 271

connections ,,ith the people and places they encounter. Building meaningful
connections across cultures enables us to respond to differences ,,ith curiosity.
appreciation and respect. The appreciation of diversity spreads tolerance and cre-
ates a global community'' . Couchsurfing's character as non-profit orgamzation
fitted the overall spirit of the Couchsurfing comrnwuty as mutual aid commwuty
quite well. In 2011, Couchsurfing was incorporated . Founder Casey Fenton ex-
pl.uned that the economic crisis made survival difficult and that being non-profit
is not Couchsurfing·s core \'alue: "The non-profit structure [. . .] can really linut
our ability to inno,-ate ... Bemg a non-profit "isn't Couchsurfing's core identity
Our identity is our ,ision and nussion:\Ve get people together". - In 2011. Couch-
surfing raised USS7.6 million in ,·emure capital in,·esonents that ''-'aS pro,ided by
OmidprVentures andVC Benchmark: Capital.' Couchsurfmg became a so-called
B-corporation, which is a corporation that is for-profit and has its ··social respon-
sibility" certified : the company's accountability. emironmental and consumer
friendliness. employees' working conditions and conununity character are assessed
m order to calculate an overall B score that is regularly published. ~This score ig-
nores the overall question if capital accumulation can ever be responsible or rather
necessarily results m inequalities. The Couchsurfing conununity has been rather
critical of the commodificarion of its platfom1. It started. for example. an Avaaz
petition that called for returning the platform's control and ownership to the
users: "We, the community of CouchSurfmg, are the ones who built eyerything
from scratch in ,·oluntary work.[ . . .] As this commwuty ,,-as giving such a high
social reward to all it's users. and as we won't JUStwatch how this all is destroyed
by the profit- seeking share holders, we deaded co fight for the future of our com-
munity and will do our best co put it back to the ti-ack of the user based com-
munity it has been for a long time[" '~ The petition expresses users· concerns that
their \·oluntary digital ,vork is turned into digital labour which is exploited and
generates profit owned by pm-ate stockholders .They feel betrayed and exploited.
Their use-value-generating work \\-as turned into exchange-\-alue-generating la-
bour "ithout their consent. and there is the implication that profits are generated
that are owned by private in\·estors but generated by the users' labour. Another
example of the commodification of a social media platfonn is the Huffmgcon
Post. Ananna Huffingcon founded it in 2005 as a political blog that developed
into the most successful Internet newspaper / news blog. On January 18, 2013 , it
was the world's 83rd most accessed website (alexa.com). In February 20 1 I.AOL
bought the Huffingcon Post for USS315 million and it became an ad,·ertising-
financed platform. A number of wnters had contributed te>..--rs ,-olw1tarily and
without payment. Given the conunochficat1on and incorporation of the Huffm!?-
ton Post.many of them felt not only betrayed but aho ex'})loited.The writer Jona-
than Tasini as a consequence filed a S105 million class action suit against the
Huffington Post that argued that the platform engaged in unjust enrichment . He
said. ·'In my \iew. the Huffington Post's bloggers ha\·e essentially been turned
into modern-day slaYeson Arianna Huffington 's plantation . [... } She wants to
272 Analysing Digital Labour

pocket the ten, of n11]1ons of doll.ir; sht."reJped from the hard work ot those
bloggcr,. [. . . ) This all could hJ,·e been J,·mded h.1d Arianna Hutlingmn not
acte-d hke tht' \Val-Mam , the \Valcon,. Lloyd Blankfi.-m, which 1, bJ,tcally co ,.1y.
·Go ,crew yoursdn:5. chi- b my money .. , (Forbes ~0 11) .
.-\nanna Buffington re,ponded that bloggers conmbute for tun and cre.1tl\"-
1t): not for the purpo,e of mont'y. Jnd tlut they obcam ocher indirect forms
ot payment : ··Pcoplt."blo)! on HutlPo,t for free for the ,.une rea,on they !!O on
cable TY ,how, e,.-ery night for free: eitht•r becau,e they are pa"1onate .ibouc
theu idea, or became they have ,omething to promote and want expo,ure to
large .ind mulnple audiences . [. .. j Our blo~en are repeatedl, · mnted on TV to
dt,cm, their posts and han· received evt."rytlung from p.11d,pecch opporrunmes
and book deal, to a T\ · ,how·· (Lo, l\ngele~ runes ~O 11). The,e two arguments
are often ,·oiced m the context of cL,cm,ion, on dt)!ital labour . The tir,t one
b,hil·ally ,ay, that u,ers are only intere,ted 111 the use-value they !!et out of ,onal
medi.i. lt 1gnon.·, the exch.inge-,·alue ,ide and chat the ,ame acttnnes chat Crt'Jte
me-,·Jlue on mcial media for u,er, al,o cn·Jtt." ,-alue and exch.mge-,·alue from
whteh prl\,ltt." compJny owner, rJther than tht."user-. benefit m a monetarv wa~:
The ,econd .1qc_·•ument ,ay, that there are indirect or non-monet.iry pJ),ncnr,
for the usef\ of corporJte ,octal media. One common argument Ill this n>ntei-.'1:
1, that they are paid 111-kmdwith platform ace~,. Tiu, argument nuspen·e1v~
the centr.tl role of money Jnd monetJry profit, m capitalism : money 1~thl· only
commodity that can be exchanged fi.lrall other fonm of commodities. In capital-
hm , one cannot buy food ,nth p!Jtform acce,,. onh· with money . :\nanna Huff-
mgtou·, form of the Jrgurnem i-, chat blo~ers get publtciry in return for their
accinries . Tiu, logic decentres attention from the ownenhtp \tructure, of the
Hutfmgton Po,c and the circum,t.ince that thl· bloggen· comem h.t, become part
of a for-profit company. accumulatmg capital in connl·cnon ,nth these content,
and leanng blo~>gersunremunerated. Couch,urting ;md the Hutlington Po,t are
rwo example, of how the ,·oluntary work of soci.il network u,eN and bloggers
1~turned from digital work 1mo dtgual labour th.Jc ere.ices \'aim· Jnd protit for
corporatiom . In the ca,e of Google. Facebook and You Tube. tltl• for-profit pur-
po,e was tht."refrom the beginning. which meam rhac the eA-plo1tanonof digital
labour \\,h on the agend.i right from the bcgmnmg . In the ca,e of T,,iner, there
wa, from the begmmng a for-profit purpo.,c. but It cook sen·r.i.l vears unnl ad-
wrti,ing and with it the expl01cat1011of dtg1tJI labour was introduced. D1g1ral
labour i, a hou~ewihzed form of labour . ·· Hou,e\\,fizanon.. \1le,. Bennholdc -
Thomsen Jnd \Verlhof l 9S8: :0-he-,1986) meJns that work or labour i, traru-
formed in a way chat re,embles. the workmg cond1rion, homew1,·c:, tradtmmally
ha,·e had co face. Hou,ew1fized labour "bears the t·haraccew,nc, of homt·work.
name!): labour not protected by tr.ide umo11s or labour law,. due 1, anil.lble at
,my nme. for .iny price, that 1s not recogmud J:, ·J.ibour· but a, ,111 ·acnncy·. a,
m the 'income generattng acm ·ine\·. meaning 1'olated and unorganized and ,o
on •· (.\be,. Be1mholdt-Thomsen and "'erlho:- l~-8~. · 0). Hou~ew1fized labour 1,
 Theorizing Digital labour on Social Media 27 3

characterized by "no job permanency. the lowest \vages. longest working hours,
most monotonous work. no trade unions. no opporturuty to obtain higher quali-
fications. no promotion. no rights and no social secunty" (ibid .. 169). Digital
labour on "social media" resembles housework because it has no wages. is mainly
conducted during spare rime. has no trade union representation and is difficult
to percei\·e as bemg labour. Like housework, It involves the "externalization. or
ex-territonalization of costs ,vhich otherwise would ha,·e to be covered by the
capitalists .. (Mies 1986. 110). The term "crowdsourcing" expresses exactly this
outsourcing process that helps capital to save labour costs. Like housework, digi-
tal labour is "a source of unchecked. unlinuted e:-..l'lo1tation"(ibid .. 16).
In sla\·e work. there are no wages and the exploitation is unlimited in the
sense that the entire working day is unpaid. Necessary labour time is minimized.
surplus -value-generating labour time is maxinuzed. Digital labour has in com -
m.on with classical sla,·ery that the work is unpaid and highly exploited. There
are howe,·er important differences concerning the mode of coercion. Neither the
digital workers nor the classical slave's labour is a commodity: they both do not
sell their labour-po\',:er as a commodity on the labour market.A crucial difference
is the mode of coercion: the slave 1s the sla,·e owners private property. whereas
the digital worker is nor a pri,-ate property. Therefore. more like a housewife. the
digital worker is creating value in conditions that are detached from property
relations, whereas the slave is a form of pri,-ate property himself/herself. In both
the slave's and the digital worker·s labour, play and labour converge--for both all
play time is work time. The difference is that slave work tends to be hard manual
work that is physically exhausting and does not feel like play. ,vhereas digital
labour is infom1anon work that feels almost exclusively or to a large degree like
play. Sla\·es are violendy coerced w1th hands. whips. bullets-they are tortured.
beaten or killed 1f they refuse to work. The violence exercised against them 1s
primarily physical in nature. House workers are also partly physically coerced in
cases of domestic violence. In addition, they are coerced by feelings oflove. com-
mim1ent and responsibility that make them work for the family. The main coer-
cion in patriarchal housework is conducted by affective feelings. In the case of the
digital worker. coercion is mainly social in nature: large platforms like Facebook
have succ5sfully monopolized the supply of certam services. such as on.line social
networking. and have more than a billion users. which allows them to exernse a
soft and almost invisible form of coercion. in wluch users are chained to com-
mercial platforms because all of their friends and important contacts are there and
they do not want to lose these contacts and therefore cannot simply leave these
platforms. Non-commercial alternari\·es exist but have problems attracting users
because of the monopoly status of commercial players and the lack of budget for
public relations.
Capitalism is connected to a patnarchal ideology. in which, as Leopoldina For-
tuna.ti (1995) argues:'producnon both isand appearsas the creanon of ,'a.lue, [while)
reproduction is the creation of\'a.lue but appearsot/ien1,jse".The dual character of
274 Analysing Digital Labour

labour com.i.im not only a din,ion between use-nlue and exchmge-vaiue. hut
aho onc betwecn proJucoon and rc-prodtu:uon a, \,ell a, produn1, ·e and unpro-
ducn, -e labour: pam.in:hal 1deologie, prescnt ,,-agl' labour ~ producnn.-, hou,e-
\\'Ork a, unproductiw·. "fr i, 1/,r p,,.,;,;.,,,;,,~,f repr.>d11aiM1,1, 11<>11-m/i1e
tlMr em1blr,
lwh rr.,d1mi,,11a11drepn,d11ai.i11 r,,_fimai,)11,15 rltepr,1d11ai.,11
vf mlue" (ibid .. 9). The
"mhJecm·e condition, of reprod.ucuon work are plNted a, ,epar.ite &om those of
producnon work" (ihu.l.. 12). There ,Ire certam paralleh between housework and
u,er labour on corpor,1te son al media: hoch are unpaid tl.)rtJlS of \'alue-generanng
labour, And both are the suhJect of 1deolog1es th,u present the,e forn1, oflahour
.i, unproJucri,·t· to hide the exploitanon of house \\'orker, and u,er.;. whil·h allow~
m.1xm1izmgcapit.tlim · profit,. The pamardul-idco logical denial of the product1\·-
1ry of homework that Fortunan analy,e,, tind, a par.tllel in the 1deolog1caldemal
of the prod ucm,tv of mer labour 011 corporate lnternt·t platt<>rmsthat livt· by
u,er-generated c,)ncem .1.ndit, commodtlit-ation.\'{'h.n m.tk.esu,er labour difficult
co perce1w as 1.,bour that i, t•xploited 1s the circunistam.:e that it ofien foeh hk(.'
fun .md 1sconduncd III one\ ,p.ire nme.Ju,t like III hou,e\\'ork. tht· boundary bt·-
tween working nme and spare time 1, blurred m u,er labour: play time and ,pare
nme are \\'Orkmg tinw. :\n example of the 1deological ,eparation of u,er labour
and e:-..-ploitanonh the ,·erdtct in the da,, .iction lawsuit J,,,wr/1a11 T.1>1111,·. .-iOLt
'TT1eHu_{ti111!1,,11
PM . T.Nni. a hlogger. ,ued the Huffingron Po,t after AOL had
bought n for USSJ 15 million ,md h.1drran,formed tt mto J commercial pl.ittorm.
a~umg th.it the commodification of Hutfin!?(on Po,t re-.ulted m the exploitanon
ot the unpaid l.tbour oi blo~cr, who comnbuted to the Po,t and in unfair en-
richment . In the \'erdict. the Judge d1,mis,ed the clJim. arguing th.it " under NC'\Y
York law..1 plamnff mu,t plead ,ome expecunon of compensanon that wa, demed
in order to reco\'er under a theory of unju,t enndunent. The Complaint fa1h to
do ,o and the daun for unJu,t enndunem must therefore be cli,nussed. [... J :s.;o
one forn•d the pl,unttll, to give thetr work to The H uffington Po,t for puhltcanon
and the plaintiff, l·ai1clidh·adnm that they did not l'Xpect compen,ation" \Umtt·d
States D1,trict Court '>outhern Di,mct of New York 2012. 12-13). The aqn1-
ment of the judge i, that if a worker doe\ not expi:ct pa,·ment (e.g. hC'cause the
work " part of family or fuend,hip rd.inmb or " condm·ted bet·ause the worker
hd1e,·es in the public u,dulne,, of the project). there can be no exploitation. T he
n:nhct ,uhJecm·1z~ t'xplo1tat1on and doe, not ,et• that m both (.i) hou,ework
and (b) unpaid u,er work for corpor.ite son.tl media. comp.mie, benefit maten-
ally by accumulanng c.1p1talthat i, enabled by (a) hou,ework that reproduces
labour-power and {b) u,er work that create, a data commodity. The judge fur-
thennore argue, that 1f ,omebody ,ubrnm ,·olum.mly to explo1tation, 1t is not
exploitation. A~,ume a ,J,we ha, to choose 1f he got", free or 5t,1y~en,la\·ed and
,lhe for ,0me n:a,011' choo,l', ,la\-cry. Although Im her c-hoicc may be hard to
understand. s he would mil continue to be exploited. It does not maner for the
g1wnne" of exploitaoon for which rc-asom home worker- and user, choose to
bl· in che,e role,. 1f tt i, ,·olumary labour or not and if they e:-..-pt't'tcompensanon
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 275

for 1t or not. The circums tance that capital benefits from these forms of labour is
an indication for the exi,tence of the exploitation. T here are obJective critena of
el\.-ploitation:patriarchal and capit,1fat ideologies try to ,ubjecti\ ·ize exploitation m
order to deny that n take, place.

11.3.3 . Digital Labour and the law of Value on Social Media

Certain scholars argue that the rise of a ··knowledge society'" or "cogniriYe capi-
talism" as well as of '•social media" has resulted m an outdatech1ess and non-
applicability of the labour theory of \-a.lue to contempor.iry capitalism. Virno
(200-t 100) says tha t the law of \-a.lue1s"shattered and refuted by capitalist dewl -
opmem uself". Hardt and Negri (2005 . 1 ➔5) argue that the "temporal unity of
labor as the basic measure oh-a.lue today makes no sense". Vercellone (2010. 90)
writes that ··cogmt1,·e capita!im1" ha~ resulted in the ·'crisis of the law of ,-a.lue•·
and ··a cr isis of measurement that destabilizes the very sense of the fundamental
categories of the political economy: labor. capital and obviously, value'". The
me ofknO\dedge in production. what Marx (185.., 1858b) tenned the generaJ
intellect. would result in the circnmsrance that labour. particularly knowledge la-
bour. "can no longer be me-.isured on the baS1Soflabour time directly dedicated
to producnon" (Vercellone 2007. 30). Abstract labour. "measured in a unit of
nme". would no longer be "the tool allow-ing for the control o,·er the labor and
simulraneowJy favouring the growth of social productinry" (Vercellone 1010.
90). Creati,-i~· and knowledge would today form "the main source of \-a.Jue"
(ibid .. 105).
The assumption of many Autonomist Marxists that the law of \-a.Jueno lon-
ger applies today is not feasible bec-.iuse this law is a foundation of the existence
of capitalism and bec.iuse the assumption is based on a false interpretation of .i
passage from Marx's Gruudrisse (sec e.g. \'ercellone 1007, 29-30). in which l\larx
,ays that •'labour time ce-asesand must cease to be·· the measure of wealth (Marx
1857 18586. 705). The misinterprecauon is precisely that Marx here describes a
transformatmn within capitalism. Instead Marx in tl1e same passage makes clear
that he talks about a simation in which tl1e "mass of workers" has appropnated
" their own surplus labour" {ibid.. 708). As long as capitalism exists. \-a.lue i, sec
as the standard of production. although the yaJue of conuuodities tends to his-
torically dinunish. which adYances capualism 's crisis-proneness. Harry Cle.iYer
has pointed out that the Marx passage 1s based on a framework that results from
the circumstance that class struggle ··e:'1.-plodesthe system and founds a new one"
{Cleawr 2000. 92).
In the specific passage m the Gnmdrisse. Marx says,"Once they ha,·e done so--
and dispt>sc1b/e 1ime thereby ceases to haYe an ,111titlie11cal
existence-then. on one
side. necessary labour time will be measured by the needs of the social indiddual.
and. on the other. the development of the power of soaal production will grow
so rapidly that. even though production is now calculated for the we-aJth of all.
276 Analysing Digital labour

dispt>s,1blerime will grow for .ill'' {Marx 1857 1858. 708). Marx talks about a son-
ety m which ··production b.i,ed on exchange ,-a.Juebreab dm\11.. 1b1d.. "'"5 -.i
commurust \Ociet\·
Ad.im Anids,on (2011) ,hare, \\ith circulat1on-fetish1stic approaches hke the
one of Hemrich the a,,umpuon ch,1t··che labor theory of ,-a.Jueonly hold, 1flahor
l1.1sa pnce" (ibid., 265). He \\,mes to pomt Ollt with th1' as,t11npc10nch.u user\
of Farebook and other corporate '\onal media·· are not expl01ted becau,e they
do not recewe a wage {for a detailed cnaasm of Anids,on·s appro,1ch see Fuch,
2012e). The que--tion that an,es m this comext 1swhether slave-..who do nor re•
ceiYe wage,. are not exploited. As this assumpuon I\ difticult to make. it becomes
dear that Arnds,on 's approach ha, qune problematic m1phcauom.
On corporate "sonal media ... the ··mne spent online ,iewmg or mteractmg
\\ith a particular site " not the crmcal parameter for detinmg or mea,unng
,·alue m the on.line adveru,mg ennronmenc": r.ither "affecn,·e engagement,"
and "user affect" {e.g. meamred bv social buttom. senmnenc an,1h·,1s.net\, ·ork
analy,1,) would be the "source of ,-a.Jue" (An·id-»on and Colleom 21)12. 1-H).
This mean, that Facebook constantly monitor, interests. usage beha,·iour.
bro,ning behaviour, demogr.iph1c d1t.1. user-generated content, ,anal rela-
tions and ,o forth. These are indl\idual. affecrin-. social. economic. polmcal.
cultural dat,1 about mer:;. The more mne a user ,pends on Facebook. the more
data i, generated about him her that i, offered a, a commodity to advertising
chem,. Eiq>l01tat1onhappem m this conuuodification and produn1on proce".
whereas the- data commodities are offered for sale to adwrtising client, after
the production , exploitation process. The more time a user ,pend, onhne. the
more data 1, a,·ailablc-about him her that can potenaally be ~old and the more
ad,·ertisement:. can be presented to him/her. Time therefore play, a crucial role
on corporate social media. Users employ soaal media became they ,tn\·e to
a cert.iin degree for achie,·ing what Bourdieu (1986a. b) terms ,anal cap1
tal (the accumulation of sona.l rdatiom). cultural capital (the acnunulmon of
qualification. educaoon. knowledge) .md s:,11bolic capital (the .iccumularion of
reputation). The rime that useh ,pend on commercial soci,1,Jmedia pl.1tforn1-
for generaung social. cultural and wmbolic capita.I 1, in the proce,, of pm,wm'r
commodificarion tramformed into economic cap1t.1l.Labour time on con1mer-
ual sonal media 15the com·er.,1011ofBourd1eus1an ,oc1.1l.culmral and s:,nbohc
capital into Marxian value and econonuc capital.
Arn~on and Colleom (2012 ignore that the labour that gem.·rates conrent.
1

affect,. hke,. social relariom and net\,·orks is orgamzed in rime and ,pace and th,lt
Facebook u--agetime i, producti\'C labour time . All hour- ,pent onlme by u,ers of
Facebook. Google and comparable corporate ,ona.l media constitute work time.
111 whJCh data conunodmes ,ire generated. and potenaal rime for protit re.ilization .
..\n;~on ignores the material realmes and power of actual capital accumuh-
non by sub,tituting a materi.ilisric concept of v-alue.md labour by a ,ubJecmi~nc.
1deal1,ncconcept of ,·alue. He submrute, the economic concept of \-a.lUl' ,nd1 .i
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 277

moral concept of \.Uue. This mm·e is not a generahzanon of the value concept. as
m Grossberg', approach. but a subjecnfication of \.UUe that corresponds to neo-
classical economic theories which question Marx's concept of \.Uue as substance
consatuted as societal phenomenon in the production process.
The discussion of contemporary Cultural Studies in chapter 3 and this sec-
tion have shown that the labour theory of value is an ideological obJeCt that is
frequently used to argue tha t Marx's theory is out of date. Resulting claims are
that \-al.ue has been generalized and pluralized (Grossberg) and stems from af-
fects (Arvidsson) or social nern:orks (Hartley), but 1s not constituted by labour
and measured by labour time. The implications of these approaches are di\·erse.
but they all share the consequence that the inunediateness of the radical critique
of cap1raltsm and capitalist media is either reduced m importance or altogether
rejected.
Not all Autonomist Marxists share the assumption that there is an end of the
la,,.· of \.UUe today. Karl Heinz Roth (2005. 60) stresses the large number of un-
paid and underpaid workers in the \vorld todar Examples that he mentions are
reproductive work in the family. precarious and informal labour. sla\·e workers .
prison labour {Roth 2005). temporal work. seasonal workers. mtgrant ,....-orkers
and precarious self-employment (Roth and van der Linden 2009). Karl Heinz
Roth and Marcel ,.-an der Lmden (2009. 560) say that these workers constitute the
global worker (lleltarbeiterklasse)that is ·'a multi\'ersum of strata and social groups".
Nick Dyer-Witheford (2010. 490) argues that the global worker (a) is based on
the globalization of capital. (b) is based on a complex di,;sion of labour. (c) is
based on underpaid and unpaid labour (migrants, house workers. etc.). (d) is em-
bedded mto global conununication networks. (e) is facing precarious conditions.
and (f) has world,,;de effects. Slave workers who are unpaid would also produce
value. although their labour-power does not have a price for which it is rented to
an owner. but rather it is the prh-ate property of a slave master (Roth and van der
Linden 2009. 581- 587). Roth and ,-an der Linden use the example of the slaw
worker in order to argue that ex'J)loication and ,'alue production do not presup-
pose a wage relationship. They argue for a dynamic labour theory of \.UUe (ibid.,
59o-600) that assumes that all humans who conmbute to the production of
money profit by entering a relationship \\;th capital-in which the latter controls
and owns their personali ty (slaves). labour-power (wage workers), the means of
production and subsistence (outsourced contractual labour). the products of la-
bour (unpaid and underpaid labour) or the sphere of reproduction (reproducti, ·e
labour)-are part of the exploited class. Capital has the inherent mterest to maxi-
mize profit .To do this. it will take all means necessary because the smgle capitalist
nsks his her m...-nbankruptcy ifs , he cannot accumulate capital as a result of high
1m·esm1ent costs, heavy competition. lack of productivity and so on. The wage
relation is. as argued earlier. a crucial element of class struggle. Capital tri~ to
reduce the wage swn as much as possible in order to maximize profits. If possible,
capital '"ill therefore remunerate labour-power below its own value. that is. below
278 Analysing Digital Labour

the socially necess.ir,· co,r, that are requrred for ,un·i,-al . The tran,,formauon of
the ,-alue into the pnn· oflabour-power and thl· Juferencl· berween chc two 1,. a,
Clean.•r (2t)OO) and Bidet (2009) srre". the rc,ult of class -,cru~le. Labour lqrisla-
non and an organized l:tbour mm·emenr can -.crui;gle for w·.ige~ that ,lrt' lugher
than the ,-alue of Li.hour-power. Ii labour 1s.however. weak (e.g . becau,e of f.c.cM
rep=,ion). capital 1, likely to u,c: am opportumty to rt'duce wage-, ,1' much a,
possible m ordt:r to mere.1st:profit, l\;eo-libt:mh,m 1, a form of governmentabcy
that increa,e, profit, by decrea,ing the wage ,um ,,;ch the help of cumng ,rate
e:-..--pendm1rc,for welfarc. c-are and educanon: pn,·annng such ,ernce,: cre.mng
precariou, wagt:-relanon, that are temporarv. m,ecure and underpaid: weakemng
the pmn:r ofl.ibour mgamzarion,; decre.ismg or not mcrea,111g\\-.,ges rel,,tn·cly or
.ib,olutely: out~ourong labour to low-p.ud or unp.11dform, of production; coerc-
ing the Ulll'lllplo,·ed to work ,, ·1thout payrnem or for extrl'lllely low \\';lge,. and
,o on. It i, .i form of politic, that aun, at help111gcapual to reduce the price of
l,1bour-power ,1,much a, possible. if po,'Jble e,·en below the mmimum ,·alue that
i, needed for human ex1,tence. The creation of multiple fonm of prec.inou, and
unpaid form, of work 1' an e:-..-pres,1on of the cla" ,rruggle of capital to reduce the
co,rs oflabour-power. The re:.ult 1, a di,,Juncrurc of the value and pnce of labour-
power. The disjuncmre between ,·alue .md prire oflabour-powcr 1saccomp,mied
by a di'.)unnure of the ,·.tluc and pnce of conunod1ties: The finannalizanon of the
economy 11.,e-tabli-hed ,cocks and den,-am ·e--,that ha,·e ficrmou, price, on ,cock
markers th.it are based on the hope for !ugh ti.mm~profits and dindend,, but are
di~omced from the anuaJ labour ,·.ilut"sand commodity pnce,. Contemporary
capitalism 1, .i dt.'.)UIKmreeconomy. Ill wluch ,-alut",.profit, ,md pnces tend to be
out ofJOlllt ,o that tht·re h a !ugh crN,-pronene". DiguaJ media ~cholar,. entre -
preneun.. m.1n.1ge!"\. comultan~ and polincum often celebrate the n,e of"',ooal
mt"dia"'like Facebook. Twiner and YouTube as tht· n,e of ,1 democranc and par-
ticipatory t"conomY.in wluch u,cr, control the means of t·onununic.ition and
mtellecrual producaon and comume1> can ;Kn\'ely and cre.im·ely shape the econ-
omv. Seen from the ,·iew of a dynaimcal labour theory of ,·.tlue. corporate ,ooal
media arc 111 contrast forms of tht" explonanon of unpaid labour: all nme usen.
,pend on ,ud1 platform, i, recordt•d and analy,ed and create, d.ita commodme,
comaimng personal and usage data and are sold to ad\'erti,mg chenrs that pronde
targeted .td, to the mt·rs. The prKe of the u,l·rs· labour-power 1s zero: they are
unpaid. wluch allO\n capital to maxmuze profit, by reducing the pnce oflJbour-
power a, much below it, ,·alue a, po,)1ble. Tlw multi,·en.e of the global worker
does not con<Jst of ,ep.1rate types of work and rclanon,; of pr ,ducnon. but rather
of 1merdependent proJucnon relanon, that form a whole i\:1ck Dyer- \V1theford
(2002. ~O l 0) therefore ,peaks of the emergence of a global ,·alue mbject that
forms a ,~1lue cham 011:->amzed by mulnnaaonal corporanon, m the form of a
~lobal t:iccory. He stre\,e, that the emergenct" of knowledge work and tht• global
worker doc, not mean an end of the l.iw of ,-alue. bur ratht·r an expam1on of
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 279

ell..l'loitation and the law of Yalue from the workplace as the ''trac:htional locus of
exploitation'' (2002. 8) to the "factory planet" (2010. 485). The explonation of
user labour on commercial Internet platforms like Facebook and Google is in-
dicative of a phase of capitalism in wluch we find an all-ubiquitous factory that is
a space of the exploitation of labour. Social media and the mobile Internet make
the audience commodity ubiquitous and the factory not limited to your living
room and your wage work place--the factory and \York.placesurYeillance are also
in all m-between spaces. The ennre planet is today a capitalist factory. The e;,..--ploi-
tation of Internet users/ proswners is not isolated: it is part of a larger ,-alue chain
of computing, in which African slaYe \\·orkers extract raw materials. underpaid
workers in de\·eloping countries (and Western countries) assemble hardware. un-
derpaid worker.- in developing countries and highly paid workers in the West
engineer software and precariously workmg sen'lce workers (e.g. in call centres)
pro\·ide support. So the global value subjects are "subject to the law of ,-.tlue con-
stituted and constrained by the logics of the world-market" (Dyer- Withe-ford
2002. 9). But they also ha\·e the potential power to sub\·ert the law of \-alue by
refusals to work {protests. strikes. occupat10ns and.in the most extreme form. as in
the case of Foxconn. suicide). refusals to consume {stopping the use of certain
products and fa\·ouring the use of non-commercial products) and the creation of
alternati,·e forms of ,-aluation production that transcend monetary \-alues and are
non-profit and non-commercial m character (e.g. non-proprietary software/
operating systems, non-commercial social networking sites. self-managed alterna-
tive IT companies. etc.). Goran Bolin (2011) stresses m this conrext that economic
,-alue 1s not the only moral value that can shape the media. Nick Couldry (2010)
points out that neo-liberalism reduces the possibilities for the expression of \'Oices
that constitute an alternati\·e moral \-alue to economic logic. fa ..--pressedin another
way, the \-alue of capitalism is \-alue. which reduces the status of the human to a
voiceless and exploited cog in the machine. and although percei\'ing itself as per-
manently talking. it mostly has a voice and power without real effects. What we
need to achieve 1s the sublation of economic \-aJue so that (economic) value is no
longer the primary (moral) ,-alue.
The law of \-alue has not lost its force. It is in full effeet e\·erywhere in the
world where exploitation takes place. It has been ell..'tendedto underpaid and
unpaid forms oflabour. corporate media prosumption being just one of them. As
a result of technical increases in productivity, the value of commodities tends to
historically decrease. At the same tllne, ,'3.lue 1s the only source of capir-al.com-
modities and profit in capitalism. The contradictions of \'3.lue ha,·e resulted in a
disjuncture of \-alues. profits and prices that contributes to actual or potential cn-
ses. which shows that crises are inherent to capitalism. This it turn makes it feasible
to replace capitalism with a commons-based system of existence. in wluch not
value but creatiYity,social relations. free time and play are the source of ,-aJue.Such
a society is called commurusm and is the negation of the negam·ity of capitalism.
280 Analysing Digital Labour

11.4 . Conclusion
On n>rpor.;ce ,0na. medi.l platfonn, ,uch a., Facebook.Twim·r.You Tube and Google.
u,er, are not jtN con-umers l,f infomution, but .uso pro,umei--producoYe con-
,umei-. who produce profile-, contem. co1mt·cnorb. -.onal relanons. networks .md
conunurunc-- ,h usc·-,·alut,. Tht·y an- cn>Jtm:. ,Kn\ ·e. nerworkt-d digital workers. Fur-
thenuore , data about all of chest' .icth-iot, i, produn'l.l and ~old to urgett-d .uh-ern,ers.
who obtam acu.•,, co the user;' pre-forcnn--,and daca m e~ch,mge for money and pres-
em ni-tonuze..1 ad, co tht• USC!". The u,t•-,-alue ot ,ocial media become-, in tlu, way
alienated from the u,t·r- them-.eh-e,. whirh n..,uJcsin an alicmtion from tlw control
of acti,·itie-. daca. ell.--pericnc~.platform, and the gener,ttt'l.l monetary profit,. The ct:.
ft·n ,, clue chey are t'll.-plom:ddi¢cal workers who ere-ace,urplu,, , ·alue and moneury
profii-.. Digna! Ltbour on ..,oo.J medi.i" n.·,emhk"'>hou-ework becJu,e 1t ha- no ,,-a~.
" m.unly conductt:\.1dunng ,p.tre nme. h.,~ no trade muon repre-enc.ition and "Ju:.
ficulc co p..:rce1vea; bemg lab, ,ur. Hou~e worker.;. ,la,·c--and d1g:icalworkel" on ">cJ.il
medi.l ha,·e in conunon that they l1Jw no wage-- md are lughly ell.1,l01tcd.which
me.111-clue all or large p,1rt:,of their work d.1y,<.-re,ue,urplu, ,-aluc. Tht·~ ell.-pencnce
d1tfercm modt, ot coernon th.,t an· em1>001ul.phy,ical .m.d \QC!al111 character. Sl.i,·e
worker; 111 che Democraoc Republic of Congo who extr.ict ronfurt nuneral, that .ue
the phy5icalfound.10on ot !CT, .m: likelyco be ktlb .i ,.fthey refu,e the phy~1callyhard
extr.tlnon work. Facebool.. u,t·rs .ire li.kdy co be more -,ocially i..olaceJ 1.tthey rdu<e
che fun work of ma1lmg. ro1mecting. bn)\\-smg. commenting. reatling:.wacdnng and
,o on . The tiDt tvpe ofl,1bour " no fun at all. deadly ,enou, and bloOtl}:tht• ~ecoud
type of labour ,, playful and doe,; han:lly feel like labour . Bcsidt'>t!w,e dufen-nce,, that
nuke a ditlt-renre , what botl1 ,hare 1, that they are performed in che IDDL .u-eacnn-
Ut, nt-ces-;aryfor capital accumulanon and arc h,in.ily monecanly remunerated. The
first ,, ph,,tcal labour. the ,e,::ond 1, a ,penal form of mti:mnanon work-play mfor-
maOt)II labour Digital pl.ty worker.. on ,oa.tl mecfo a.ret>bjecnwly alienJted from the
rnmml of ,OCJ,t.hcy. the control ot pl.lcfonm. the rnmrol ot what happens ,nth t!1e
d.ua of their online c,-penenct, and tl1e control of the derin .•d monetary protics.They
furthermore haw i.ndl\-idua.l,crucntn'> ot usage fi:dmg chat tr.mslate mco one or ,cv-
t•ral rnllet:tfre stntcntres of usage tct·hng wluch arc mon· or Jt..,, subJecmdy alienated
Thi, cl1Jpct•r hJ, dea lt wnh the que,non : \\ 'hat are d1g1ta.lwork and digital
labour on ,oo.il media? For prm ·iding pm,ibl..- an,wers. theoretical nouons of
work and labour are needed. \Ve hJYC explored the me ot J\tarx·, theor~ m tin,
concc:xt. Marx wscmgiu,he, berwc.'en an anthropological Jnd a h.istoncal quality
ofcollecti,·e acm-iuc, that ,.ici~~- human nel·ds: work and labour .Thi, d1mnction
i, reflectt·d in rap1t.1hsm 111the dual character oi the commodity ch.it i, both u-.e-
,·alm· ,md (exchangt·- '\"J1ue at the ,amc: cmw.\Ve ha,·e ,et out a Hegd1an-,\fa1"X1st
framl'work for underst.indrn)? the work pron:s, a, duleccical 111terconnection of
hum,m sub_1ect,(Jabour-power) th,lt me m,cnm1enc- on objel."ts so that products
emerge that \Jt1st')· hwnan nc.'ed,. :\.henanon m cap1tah,c soc,ene, 1, alienation
of \\'Orker, from all pole, of this d,alecnc Jnd from the whole process 1t,elf that
 Theorizing Digital Labour on Social Media 281

constitute, class relations and exploitation. An answer to the question posed

earlier and that sometimes dfrides representatit·es of the approaches of (a) the
Political Economy and (b) Cultural Studies of social media-namely if the usage
of commercial social media results is exploitation of digital labour or a creative
and participatory culture-can be given by approadung tlus issue w1.th the
help of Marx's characterization of work in capitali,m as a process of concrete
labour that creates use-Yalue,, and abstract labour that creates the t·alue of com-
modittes. Users of social media are creanve. social. and actit·e prosumers who
engage m a culture of sharing. doing. c01mecting and making and in these
work actiYities create social use-t ·alues (content. social relations, cooper-.ition).
On corporate social media that use targeted adt·ertising, chis creativity 1sa fonu
of labour that i, the source of the yaJue of a data commodity sold to advertis-
ers and resulting in profiD.. Facebook achieved revenues of USS3 .7 billion m
2011 (Facebook Registration Sutement Form S-1). Its founder Mark Zucker-
berg ,-..·as in 2012 the 35th richest person m the world. controlling a wealth of
USS17.5 bilhon (Forbes 2012 List of the World's Billionaires 11). The forecast for
Face books 2012 earnings are USS-l. 991 billion. 1~ At the ,.a.me time, the Face-
book stock lost value during 2012 after the initial public offering in May, where
the price per share was set at USS38. It was down to less than USS20 in early
September 2012 and then rose to a little ab0t·e USS30 at the end of January
2013 (money.cnn.com. accessed January 27. 2013). This means that there is a
difference between Facebook\ ~hare Yalue and capital accwnulation. Facebook
tries to attrnct mvestors and to thereby increase its capital base and operatiom.
The question is 1f profits and share Yalues \\ill be stable O\"erall or if the gap
ben,·een them will persist.
The argument put forward by this chapter is that the wealth of Facebook·s
owners and the profits of the company are grow1ded in the e::s.-ploitationof users·
labour that is unpaid and part ofa collective global ICT worker . Digital labour is
alienated digital ,,.-ork:It 1s alienated from itself. from the instruments and objects
oflabour and from the products oflabour. It is e::s..-ploited. although tlus exploi-
tation does on social media tend not to tee! like exploitation because digital
labour is play labour that hides the reality of exploitation behind the fun of con-
necting with and meeting other users. That Facebook has gone public poses the
question if it ,nil attract large capital im·estmencs and if the expectations the..e
im·e..tmenrs raise for profit growth can be matched by acn1al capital accumulation.
Its public listing as a stock market company has made Facebook definitely more
prone to crisis and therefore more inclined to extend and intensify the e2--ploita-
tion of u~er...The capitalist Internet has faced a financial bubble before. Capitalism
has slid into a big cns1s since the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008. The so-
cial media economy's finanaalizat1on may re..ult in the nl:'xt big bubble. The only
alternati,·e to exit the Internet cnsis and exploitation economy is to exit from
digital labour, to overcome alienation . to substitute the logic of capital \\ith the
logic of the commons and to transform digital labour into digital work.
282 Analysing Digital Labour

Notes
Sebasti;m Sevignani co-authored sections 11.3.1 and 11.3.2 of this chapter.
2 http:/ ,n,·w.marxiscs.org fan:hi.\-eh narx works 1844 epm.13rd.htm (accessed July 9.
013).
3 hrcps: , www.facebook.com / tbsitegoYemance/ app_ 4949752878 (accessed NO\-em-
ber 17. 2009) .
4 hrtps: www.facebook .com 1full_data_use_ policy. Yersion from June 8. 2012 (accessed
t\"ovember 18, 20 12).
5 hrcps: ,,·w,, ·.facebook.con v leg.tlfterms. ,-ersion from June 8. 2012 (accessed ~owm-
ber 18. 2012).
6 hrtps: www.couchsurfing.org 1n /about (accessed January 18. 2013) .
7 http:/ / www.couchsurfing.org bcorp iaccessed January 18. 2013\.
8 http: // techcrunch.com , 20 L1 08 '24 ·couchsurfing-raises- - -6-m -will-users-cry-sell -
out / (accessed January 18. 2013).
9 http:// www.bcorporation.net lcommu11it:y•directory couchsurfing (accessedJanuary 18.
2013).
i,,
10 http:/ ·ww.avaaz.org/ en / petition / For_ a_mong_ Conununity_behmd_ CouchSurfing
(accessed January 18, 2013).
11 http: ww,..,_forbes.coml billionaires . t:p_l_s_a0_Technology" /c20%20' ,20'1.,20' ,20
20~',20' 20%20%20' 20" ,20 20Q 20' n20%20%20%20%20%20_All"' 20coumries_
All' ~20states_ (accessed No,-ember 18. 2012).
12 http: lwww.4--traders.com/ FACEBOOK-I::--..-C - 10547141/ calendar/ {accessed ~ovem-
bcr 18. 2012).