The Digital Labor Controversy:Divergence and Response—Re-examination of the Essential Connotation of Digital Labor
Since communication political economist Dallas Walker Smythe put forward the"Audience Commodity Theory"in 1977,further developed by scholars such as Tiziana Terranova,Christian Fuchs,research on"digital labor"has been on the rise,which has also led to the generalization of the concept of digital labor.In the face of the remaining disputes over the characteristics of digital labor and the problem of unclear definition of the subject of digital labor,the key to solving the problem lies in retur-ning to Marx's provisions on the nature of labor,and clarifying the essential connotation of digital labor from the perspective of the materiality of labor,the productive nature of labor,as well as the difference between labor and activities.Digital labor is not the"immaterial labor"that autonomous Marxism says,and its productivity should be judged from both the employment relationship and capital accumulation,and the equation of"the user's internet access is labor"is not valid.Under the new form,only by basing ourselves on the underlying logic of Marx can we give labor a new connotation in the search for"change"and"constancy".
digital labormaterial laborproductive labordigital capital
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