[microsound] "When Facebook Isn't Fun, or, Why iLife Isn't My Life: Immaterial Labor in the Age of Web 2.0" (Draft)
bryan garcia
brymoxine at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 5 14:05:03 EST 2009
i've resisted the facebook(and all other social networking) temptations.
i knew there was an educated reason why.
thanks david.
i can now back up why i have to tell me mom and brother and a million other people why i don't comment on their stupid updates on their stupid facebooks.
stupid internet,
brymoxine
--- On Thu, 3/5/09, { brad brace } <bbrace at eskimo.com> wrote:
> From: { brad brace } <bbrace at eskimo.com>
> Subject: Re: [microsound] "When Facebook Isn't Fun, or, Why iLife Isn't My Life: Immaterial Labor in the Age of Web 2.0" (Draft)
> To: microsound at microsound.org
> Cc: "Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition" <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>, "jaded83" <jaded83 at gmail.com>
> Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 11:03 AM
> Facebook adheres to the typical self-serving curatorial
> agenda, but why not examine one of the most pervasive and
> entrenched cultural scams -- artworld institutions! --
> where
> "unpaid labor" is an accepted abusive tradition!
> The
> acolytes and their institutions, not the artists or their
> heirs, get the real money -- and that's trillions of
> tax-dollars diverted from possible public works -- only to
> stockpile and establish (their received) 'cultural
> value' in
> thousands of upper-middle-class social clubs a.k.a. art
> museums!
>
> /:b
>
> On Thu, 5 Mar 2009, David Powers wrote:
>
> > "When Facebook Isn't Fun, or, Why iLife
> Isn't My Life: Immaterial
> > Labor in the Age of Web 2.0"
> >
> > ***DRAFT OUTLINE***
> >
> > I. It Is Your Patriotic Duty to Consume
> >
> > Consumption, in the capital system, is not only a
> means of individuals
> > reproducing themselvees, i.e. in the consumption of
> basic necessities;
> > it is objectively necessary to the reproduction of the
> system. Thus
> > Bush must admonish good Americans, in the wake of
> 9/11, to please go
> > on consuming as usual. Underconsumption represents a
> danger to the
> > system, especially to a system based on overproduction
> of goods that
> > are not produced on any rational basis but only in the
> hopes of
> > realizing a profit (i.e. according to Marx commodities
> exist only for
> > their exchange value, not for their use value). It is
> imperative for
> > capitalism that the commodity be consumed at some
> point, in order for
> > capital, which has been invested in creating the
> commodity form, may
> > again return to the form of money and thus capital.
> (M-C-M =
> > Money-Commodity-Money).
> >
> > II. The Curse of Consumption as (Re)Production
> >
> > Thus, the more one consumes commodities, the more one
> participates in
> > the reproduction of capitalism. The consumption of
> commodities is one
> > aspect of the reproduction of everyday life under
> capitalism.
> > Consumption of commodities, in this sense, must be
> understood as an
> > entire system, that includes the consumption of
> advertising material,
> > the work of choosing which commodities to buy, and the
> choice of a
> > lifestyle or identity based on the consumption of
> particular kinds of
> > commodities, both physical and cultural commodities
> (i.e. the high
> > school student who identifies as "goth" or
> the enlightened consumer
> > who buys only organic food and listens to NPR).
> Consumption, far from
> > being an exercise of individual freedom, is in
> capitalism a duty and a
> > form of unpaid work which is essential to the ongoing
> survival of the
> > system.
> >
> > III. The Reproduction of Everyday Life
> >
> > Understanding the productive aspect of consumption
> requires
> > understanding the way capitalism, as a totality,
> reproduces itself in
> > all the mundane details of everyday existence. The
> works of Adorno and
> > Lefebvre are key here, for both wrote extensively on
> this very
> > subject. By exploring their theories, we can deepen
> our understanding
> > of how contemporary capitalism operates not only in
> the realm of
> > production, but as a total system that produces and
> reproduces persons
> > and subjectivities and not only commodities.
> >
> > IV. Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free
> >
> > >From consumption, we must now return to the realm
> of production in its
> > cultural (and immaterial) form. With the so called
> "web 2.0
> > revolution," we find that consumers are, in their
> leisure time, also
> > becoming producers. But in this case, they are
> performing unpaid labor
> > in the service of major corporations. Whereas once
> corporations had to
> > pay workers to produce content for individuals to
> consume during their
> > so called "free time," now consumers are
> producing such content
> > themselves, for free! (This gives a whole new meaning
> to the term
> > "free time"). Insofar as this production
> occurs on large corporate
> > websites, such as MySpace and Facebook,
> consumer-producers are in fact
> > allowing themselves to be exploited, creating capital
> (and surplus
> > value) for the large corporations without receiving
> any compensation.
> >
> > V. The Struggle for Everyday Life
> >
> > Despite the overwhelming colonization of everyday life
> by the forces
> > of capitalism, there are always already new
> possibilities for struggle
> > opened up by changes in technology including the so
> called Web 2.0
> > revolution. Especially, the same technologies used by
> the major
> > corporations are also available to individuals and can
> be used in
> > alternative ways; mailing lists, blogs, bulletin
> boards, and personal
> > websites offer the possibility to produce critical
> thought and to act
> > in non-productive ways that do not strengthen the
> system. Indeed,
> > while overall the Facebook phenomena is an example of
> a new form of
> > exploitation of immaterial labor, its content is
> ambivalent; one can
> > imagine a Karl Marx or Theodor Adorno Facebook page,
> that uses the
> > technology precisely in order to spread critical
> thinking that weakens
> > the system, dispels ideology, and breaks through
> reified and false
> > consciousness. One can also organize anti-capitalist
> and subversive
> > actions more effectively using the internet, cell
> phones, and Web 2.0
> > technologies. As long as capitalism exists there will
> also exist the
> > possibility for anti-capitalist action, a possibility
> that lays the
> > groundwork for future revolution.
> >
> > ***
> >
> > This is obviously just an outline, and the essay
> itself will require
> > extensive research to complete. Constructive comments
> would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > David Powers
> > March 5, 2009
>
>
>
> "We fill the craters left by the bombs
> And once again we sing
> And once again we sow
> Because life never surrenders."
> -- anonymous Vietnamese poem
>
> "Nothing can be said about the sea."
> -- Mr Selvam, Akkrapattai, India 2004
>
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