Title: Revisiting Marx's Value Theory: Elements of a Critical Theory of Immaterial Labor in Informational Capitalism
Abstract: AbstractBeginning with a reading of Marx proposed by the critical theory of value, the assumptions of Fuchs (2010) and Arvidsson and Colleoni (2012) in the debate on value creation in informational capitalism are analyzed. The theorization of immaterial labor proposed by these authors is limited in its capacity to articulate a radical critique of political economy. Since the immaterial labor theory is marked by the absence of a dialectical critique of knowledge forms constituted under capitalism, it cannot advance Marx's push for a critique of the categories of political economy. The dynamics of capitalism entail a process of alienation that is not limited to exploiting the work done immediately by the producers; they also generate an alienation of forms of knowledge: the alienation of the "general intellect" itself.Keywords: critical political economyfinancializationimmaterial laborinformational capitalismMarxsocial mediatheory of value NOTES1. The "critical theory of value" movement is composed of various heterodox authors whose reinterpretations of Marx breaks with traditional Marxism. Taking its inspiration from more marginal Marxist authors, such as Issac Roubine, Alfred Sohn-Rethel, and Guy Debord, this approach criticizes the main categories that constitute political economy (labor, commodity, value) as fetishes, or real abstractions, that lie at the root of social objectivity and subjectivity. Among those associated with this movement are the Canadian historian Moishe Postone and Jean-Marie Vincent and Anselm Jappe in France, as well as the journal Krisis, co-founded by Robert Kurz in Germany.2. The German philosopher Alfred Sohn-Rethel introduced the concept of "real abstraction" to explain from an epistemological point of view how the appearance of the categories of thought results from the abstraction of concrete social practices. For example, when people exchange commodities, they ignore their specificity. This is because a real abstraction occurs without conscious efforts on the part of traders. For Sohn-Rethel, real abstractions occupy the role of a priori categories in the Kantian philosophy.3. Knowledge cannot have any value in the economic sense, since it is of a nonrival and nonexclusive good. The private appropriation of knowledge prevents the conditions of its own reproduction, since it results from the humanity common historical heritage. When knowledge is the main source of wealth and not the actual work performed by individuals immediately, capitalism becomes increasingly obsolete.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-12-23
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 11
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot