Work and Consumption in Digital Capitalism: From Commodity Abstraction to 'Eidetisation'

  • Xavi Cava Universitat de Barcelona
Keywords: Commodity, real abstraction, digital sphere, reification, eidetisation, subjectivity

Abstract

The digital sphere can be studied as one of the most mature materialisations of the process of abstraction that accompanies capitalism. It is also a framework where subjectivity internalises the abstract form of commodities even further. In this sense, the Internet is the home of an abstract nature that is linked to a particular reification process that characterises post-Fordist production and consumption. This process can be named “eidetisation”. My basic assumption is that the process of reification is being intensified with the digitalisation of the capitalist system. I will begin discussing the concept of reification as a specific form of alienation, stressing that the reification of society changes and intensifies in as much as capitalist production and consumption evolve. Then I will consider the process of abstraction as one of the main elements of reification. Finally, I will try to identify some distinctive traits within the process of “eidetisation”.

Author Biography

Xavi Cava, Universitat de Barcelona
PhD candidate at University of Barcelona
Published
2018-05-09
Section
Articles