With or Without Marx? With or Without Capitalism? A Rejoinder to Adam Arvidsson and Eleanor Colleoni.

  • Christian Fuchs Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media
Keywords: Adam Arvidsson, Eleanor Colleoni, Christian Fuchs, digital labour, law of value, Marxist labour theory of value, capitalism, Internet, social media

Abstract

This paper is a rejoinder to an article by Adam Arvidsson and Eleanor Colleoni:

Arvidsson, Adam and Eleanor Colleoni. 2012. Value in informational capitalism and on the Internet. The Information Society 28 (3): 135-150.

Arvidsson and Colleoni’s paper is a criticism of and reaction to one of my own articles:

Fuchs, Christian. 2010. Labor in informational capitalism and on the Internet. The Information Society 26 (3): 179-196.

My comments focus on 6 aspects of discussion:
1) Misunderstandings of Marx
2) Autonomous Marxism
3) Corporate social media and the law of value
4) Capital accumulation on social media
5) Finance capital and social media
6) Politics, alternatives, and social transformation

The discourse constituted by the two articles and this rejoinder are situated in the context of the digital labour debate that can be considered to constitute an important part of the contemporary discourse of the political economy of the media and the Internet. It is recommended that you first read both previous articles before reading this rejoinder.

Author Biography

Christian Fuchs, Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media
Christian Fuchs is professor and chair in media and communication studies at Uppsala University's Department of Informatics and Media. He is board member of the Unified Theory of Information Research Group and editor of tripleC (cognition, communication, co-operation): Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society. He holds a venia docendi in the field of ICTs and society.
His research interests are: critical theory, social theory, media and society, ICTs and society, information society theory/research, political economy. He is author of many publications in these fields, including the books 'Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age' (Routledge 2008), which presents a social theory of contemporary society with a special consideration of media, information, and technology, and the book 'Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies' (Routledge 2011), which is an introduction to the theoretical and methodological foundations of critical media studies and critical information science.
He is co-ordinator of the research project 'Social Networking Sites in the Surveillance Society' (funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF), co-ordinator of Uppsala University's involvement in the 2 EU FP7 projects PACT and RESPECT, and management committee member of the EU COST Action 'Living in Surveillance Societies'.
URL: http://fuchs.uti.at
Published
2012-07-01
Section
Reflections (Non Peer-Reviewed)