Digital labor or labor?
—— New labor form of digital capitalism
February 27, 2024 Source: "China Social Sciences", February 27, 2024, Issue 2840 Author: Chen Cheng

Core part of digital capitalism,Digital labor has profoundly changed the traditional labor form and labor relationship。But,Whether digital labor belongs to the question of labor,Still controversy。On the one hand,As the original content of users becomes an important way to make profits in the digital platform,The content of the user's content as the view that the user's work is increasingly attracted。On the other hand,In actual operation,Enterprises often depend on freelancers and zero workers attached to the platform as "partners",to avoid providing benefits and guarantees for enterprises。Two kind of unique understanding is actually a problem hidden: how do you think of the change of labor in the digital age and the change of labor relations it triggered?

Labor is a core concept and theoretical basis of the Marxist theoretical system,It is also the key entry point for insight into the production relationship of capitalist production。Facing the endless new type of labor forms in the digital age,We need to return to the original context of Marx's labor value theory,Clear the essence of labor,To explore whether digital labor is labor,or how digital labor becomes labor。

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The essential attributes of labor from the duality of the labor。Digital labor is a collective referred to with various new types of labor form accompanied by the use of digital technology,It takes digital technology as the key production tool,For the purpose of producing digital products and providing digital services。Compared to the traditional physical industry labor,Digital labor is often considered to be non -material labor,So "digital labor does not belong to the category of Marx's labor value theory"。Marx's definition of labor includes two levels,First, the specific labor of the use value of the product,Second, the abstract labor of production of product exchange value,The former is the regulations at the material level,The latter is the provisions of the social level。Labor -based duality,Marx further pointed out,"The prescribed material of labor is not related to the characteristics of bet365 live casino games labor as production labor,On the contrary,The characteristics of labor as production labor only show certain social production relations "。means,The essence of labor is based on the social form of labor。So,The understanding of digital labor cannot stay on the specific content of labor,It can not be based on whether to produce material products as the basis for judging whether digital labor is production labor,should focus on the production relationship behind digital labor,That is the prescribed social form。

Only hire labor can enter the value relationship。The capitalist production method is based on the value relationship,Digital labor must become a labor in capitalist production,It is necessary to enter the value of capitalist value。The essence of value relationship is a kind of commodity exchange relationship,The premise of labor entering the value relationship is that labor force becomes a product that can be freely circulated,and hired by capitalists。Employment labor is a worker transferred his own labor right to use his right to the capitalist,In exchange for labor remuneration。In hiring labor,Labor is exchanged as a product,The capitalist is not purchased as a man who is a man, but the labor force as a commodity。Labor itself does not have the value attribute of the product,Employment of labor,The exchange value of labor force is materialized into the value of the necessary living materials that maintain the survival of workers,Capitalists use the right to use the labor force to squeeze the value created by hiring workers than their own value。In capitalist production,Employment labor is the preparation stage before the start of productive labor,It is also the premise of capital creation of surplus value。So,Only labor with employment relationship,It is possible to enter the scope of discussion of Marx's labor value theory。

Analyze digital labor from the perspective of employment relationship。In Western Capitalist Society,Diverse forms of digital labor,It mainly includes four types。First, the labor of professional and technical personnel who provides technical support and product services for the platform,For example, American digital platform giant Google、Amazon's technical engineer,The daily operation of their maintenance platform,Develop digital products for users at the same time。The second is to use the digital platform as the intermediary,Zero -working labor that completes the platform Bet365 app download task in the form of order,For example, Uber、German express company DHL and British food delivery platform Deliveroo,Workers provide pick -up passengers according to the requirements of the order、Express delivery and other services。Third, the user behavior that actively produces content produces by digital platforms,For example, Facebook、Twitter and other social media user creation。Fourth is the daily platform of ordinary users,For example, using Facebook、Instagram, etc.、Entertainment activities。Employment from the premise of hiring labor,The first type of digital labor has obvious employment relationship,Digital capital monopolizes digital platforms and other means of production,Workers must betray the right to use labor to exchange for rewards to maintain survival。The second type of zero labor is an atypical employment labor,Although the platform does not directly hire zero workers,But the platform directly "divides" the labor income of zero workers in the form of intermediary fees or management fees。The content of the third category of user content If the purpose of making money for money,There is interest distribution between users and platforms,It is also a kind of employment relationship。Converse,If the user releases content, it only meets its own social needs,So this is the same as the daily online behavior of the fourth type of users,Although it also produces content and data,But it is an unconscious behavior,It is not an employment relationship between the user and the platform,It is not a discussion scope of productive labor。

  Capital proliferation is the key to digital labor becomes the key to labor

Only productive labor can bring capital proliferation。The core of capitalist production is to obtain the surplus value to achieve capital proliferation,Therefore, employment labor with the purpose of capital proliferation is the labor in capitalist production。As Marx said: "When buying labor is to use it as a value of use、Consumption as a service,instead of using it as a living element to replace the value of variable capital and merge it when it is in the process of capitalism,This kind of labor is not the production of labor,Workers are not producers。"in the capitalist production method,Employment labor can be divided into two types: non -biological and productive,The former is a labor that is purchased bet365 live casino games as a service with value,The purpose is to meet personal consumption and needs; the latter is the labor that directly participate in capitalist reproduction,It exchanges it with the variable part of the capital (the capital spent on wages).,Not only can this part of the capital (that is, the value of the labor force itself) reproduced,and can also produce the remaining value。Employment labor is the prerequisite for entering capitalist production relations,But not all employment labor is productive labor,Only labor with capital proliferation is capitalist production labor。

Digital labor for the purpose of capital proliferation is labor。In Marx's labor value theory,Labor refers to the productive labor with capital proliferation。For digital labor,It must be issued from the premise of hiring labor,Then examine the purpose of hiring labor,Only digital labor pointed to capital proliferation is a productive labor。From the perspective of capitalist,If digital labor is not hired for the purpose of capital proliferation,Instead, it is just to meet the needs of the currency exchange,So,The value of labor is exchanged with the same currency。In this case,Money does not have the function of performing capital,This digital labor purchased by the currency does not have the inner logic of capitalist production。For example,Public Welfare Organization hires network anchors to carry out public welfare publicity activities,Government agencies hire professional and technical personnel to provide network security maintenance and public services。The reason why these labor is hired is to meet the needs of the buyer,instead of creating more value by possessing its use value。

After understanding the key factors of capital proliferation,Come again to analyze several main types of digital labor,Examine what they are productive in the sense。First of all Google、Labor of professional and technical personnel of digital platforms such as Amazon,They provide technical support for the platform、Develop applications for users,These workers that are condensed in digital products and services directly serve the capital proliferation of the platform。Class 2 Uber、DHL and other platforms have actually participated in capital reproduction,Online car driver、Delivery, etc. After completing the order on the platform,The platform will charge a certain Bet365 app download percentage of fees as profit。Moreover, user labor,Only user content creation for the purpose of making money is productive labor,For example,Users publish content with product recommended on social media such as Facebook and other social media for "planting grass and cargo",Not only does the platform directly bring sales division,can also attract traffic for the platform。Compared with it,Content sharing for users with social and interest and the use of daily platform use does not have productivity,Although the data generated by these behaviors has the value of use,But they do not have the exchange value,These data raw materials must be processed by the platform professional and technical personnel to create value。

  New inspiration of Marx's labor value theory

Digital technology plays a key role in capitalist production。In a contemporary capitalist society,Digital labor and digital capital raised by digital technology to become a new representation of labor and capital contradictions。How to understand the contradiction between labor and capital under digital capitalism,It is undoubtedly a new problem that society has to face。First,We need to clarify the role of digital technology in capitalist production。From the perspective of labor organizations,The digital production method is based on digital platforms,Integrate and reshape traditional industrial activities,Gathering the originally decentralized economic activities on the unified platform,Realizing production、Sales、Finance、Digital reorganization and control of various links such as logistics and other links,to improve production efficiency、Short the capital operation cycle。This spatial expansion and time compression brought by digital technology greatly accelerate capital proliferation,Satisfy the nature of the capital chase。Based on this,Someone regards digital technology as the source of surplus value,to dilute the contradiction between labor and capital under digital capitalism。This wrong understanding should cause vigilance。Digital technology and digital platforms are used as an infrastructure in capitalist production,equivalent to constant capital parts,Complete automated production activities cannot generate any surplus value,Only productive employment labor is the only source of the surplus value。

Digital technology deepen labor alienation and exploitation。Optimization of digital technology on the form Bet365 lotto review of labor organization,On the one hand, it promotes the limit of capital breakthrough in physical space,Proliferate in a larger space -time field; on the other hand, it also exacerbates alienation of workers' labor,Make labor exploitation more complicated and hidden。With the application of digital technology,Automotive factory and artificial intelligence system have begun to play increasingly important characters in the production field,replaced many repeated manpower and labor。But,This alternative does not bring more freedom to workers,On the contrary,They are forced to engage in mechanized work with lack of personality development space,completely reduced to a local worker for digital production。When the laborer's complete labor ability is continuously deconstructed by digital technology,The alienation of labor is also silently intensified。Compared to traditional industry labor,Digital labor is considered more flexible、Freedom working form,But actually,This flexibility often masks the long -term work of the workers、Unable to obtain questions controlled by legitimate rest and working hours。For example,Prevalent to the overtime culture of Internet companies,means that the platform uses a reward and punishment mechanism such as performance assessment to motivate workers to work overtime,to create more surplus value for the company。other,For the atypical hired workers such as zero workers,Digital platforms have mastered the right to allocate profit distribution with the help of technology to monopoly,can often earn higher profits at a lower marginal cost,and individuals can only get less compensation。

In short,Under the production method of digital capitalism,The specific form of digital labor is endless,Analysis of digital labor cannot only stay on the appearance of specific labor content,Instead, I want to return to the essence of capitalist production to examine whether digital labor is productive。The same labor can be productive labor,can also be non -productive labor,The specific form of labor does not affect whether the labor is productive,The essence of production labor is stipulated by the social form of labor。Standardous from the social form of capitalist production labor,First,Digital labor becomes the premise of labor is to have an employment relationship。Next,The purpose of digital labor bet365 best casino games needs to be discussed,Employment labor with the purpose of capital proliferation is capitalist production labor。The combination of digital technology and capital has expanded the space -time field of capital operation,At the same time, it also exacerbates the degree of exploitation of capital for labor。Digital labor research is still a highly concerned and controversial research topic at the moment,The inspection of digital labor must be returned to Marx,Find new inspiration from the theory of Marx's labor value。Just as the book of "Christian Fuchs) and Vincent Mosco (Vincent Mosco) claimed in the book" The Return of Marx ",Only back to Marx,Only by re -reading Marx can better understand the compression and control caused by the digital exploitation and life politics of capitalism,Only Marx's theory can indicate the direction of the future development of human society。

  (The author is a researcher at the Institute of Media Development and Crisis Management of Nanjing Normal University)

Editor in charge: Cui Bohan
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