Political economy of communication:The problem of labor

com 327january 30, 2014

QUIZ!!!

1. “the process of turning a story that friends enjoy into a film or a novel to be sold in the marketplace” is an example of what?

a) Marxismb) cultural imperialismc) commodificationd) history repeating itself

2. “Responding to this first wave of political economy thinking, ____________ shifted the debate by critically examining the dynamic forces within capitalism and the relationship between capitalism and other forms of political economic organization.”

a) Obamab) Justin Bieber’s dadc) Karl Marxd) James Carey

3. “a great deal of the [political economic] research in North America has been driven more explicitly by a sense of injustice that the _____________industry has become an integral part of a wider corporate order which is both exploitative and undemocratic.”

a) automotiveb) communicationc) huntingd) publishing

4. Which major retailer does Mosco mention as “one of the world’s largest corporations, is noted for its aggressive use of information technology”?

a) Big Joe’s Spatula Emporiumb) K-Martc) Foot Lockerd) Wal-Mart

BONUS.

Which of the following is an example of “horizontal integration”, as defined by Mosco?

a) putting two smaller beds together into a huge bedb) Google buying Nest, a thermostat makerc) the 2009 government bailoutd) Lego

1. Defining & historicizing “labor”

2. Material vs immaterial labor

3. Neo-liberalism and the “knowledge economy”

4. Group work: everyday commodities & labor issues

Mosco’s definition of political economy:

“political economy is the study of the social relations, particularly the power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution, and consumption of resources, including communication resources”

Classic definition of “economy”“The science of scarcity”: the management & distribution of limited resources

“the study of control and survival in social life.”

What happens when we add considerations of “power” to this definition?What kinds of questions do we ask?

What is “labor”?

Mosco, p. 13“According to Braverman, general labor is constituted out of the unity of conception, the power to envision, imagine, and design work, and execution, the power to carry it out.”

‘Classic’ view of labor as working to bring something into being

‘Neo-classical’ view of labor splits planning / conceiving from executing / producing

“In the process of commodification, capital acts to separate conception from execution, skill from the raw ability to carry out a task, and to concentrate conceptual power in a managerial class that is either a part of capital or represents its interests. “

‘Neo-classical’ view of labor splits planning / conceiving from executing / producing

This split usually happens according to “systems of differentiation” (Foucault)

• Global north vs south• Educated vs uneducated• Men vs women• White vs everyone else

“Economics” (without the “political”):Workers become interchangeable parts of a money-making machine

“deskilling”

“alienation”

“According to this view, labor, along with land and capital, is valued solely for its productivity, or the ability to enhance the market value of a final product... Whether human or non-human, organic or inorganic, matter is assessed to the extent that it can be used productively to create wealth. Whereas political economy was founded on the idea that power is central to society, economics largely ignored it”

conventional (material) laborThe production of durable material goods:

• Farming• Manufacturing• Construction• Transportation (dockworkers, truck drivers, railroad workers)

Meatpacking Ford factory

“immaterial” labor:

“labor that produces the informational and cultural content of the commodity” (Lazzarato, 1996)

- Audiovisual production- Advertising- Software production- Photography- Public relations- Service industry- “Knowledge” or “information” economy

Material or immaterial?

Material or immaterial?

Material or immaterial?

Material or immaterial?

Material or immaterial?

Material or immaterial?

YOUR JOB?

“invisible labor” “How ironic that the measure we call gross domestic product excludes the value of most domestic work. Services don’t count unless they are explicitly exchanged for money.”Nancy Folbre, http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/

(classic) material labor immaterial labor

Unions / trade associations Worker vs worker

Salaries Hourly rates

Blue collar White collar

Years-long contracts Weekly / monthly contracts

Regional or local competition Global competition

9 to 5 Evenings & weekends

immaterial labor is also referred to as “precarious” labor (Fudge & Owens, 2006)

What happened to material labor in North America?

Neoliberalism & globalization

“Rust belt” – abandoned auto factory in Detroit

Neoliberalism:

Mosco (p. 5).“the market as the universal and most natural of institutions”… “all other ways of organizing social life are seen as institutional alternatives that serve only to shore up the market on those occasions when it is deficient in meeting social goals”

- the logic of the market ($$) should dictate all other social institutions, from education to employment to health care to government

• Organized labor stops corporations from making as much $$

• Technological deskilling makes $$-making more efficient

• Lax labor laws make labor cheaper

Samsung Galaxy Tablet

My Little Pony (toy)

Urban Outfitters

iPod

EA Sports

Groups of 4

In Powerpoint or Word; email when done

1. Who makes this?2. Who is it targeted to (pictures/links to ads)?3. Who/what owns this?4. What else do they own? 5. Where are their “head offices” located? Where is

their production located?6. What labor-related issues / stories / scandals has

this company been linked to in the past few years (pictures/links)?