Digital labour and prosumer capitalism : the US matrix

The global dimension of recreational and professional uses of information and communication technologies makes them look universal and almost ahistorical. Aiming to reterritorialize globalized issues, this collection interrogates new forms of digital labour as economic facts and as ideological justifications for the social order, both of which emerged in the United States. Digital Labour and Prosumer Capitalism features contributions from some of the leading theorists of value and labour in the digital age, as well as incisive case studies of swiping technologies, collaborative consumption, and convergent media. It explores the two core dynamics at the heart of digital work: tasks, or services, are broken down into components or modularized, and users work for no pay and become ‘prosumer’. Placing digital labour and prosumption within the wider political economy, this volume presents a deeply contextualized critical account of the forces which shape contemporary subjects, networks, and work practices. The enrolment of consumers into production attempts to undermine labour rights, benefiting US digital corporations. Yet digital labour may ultimately challenge the capitalist logic, as user disregard for property rights extends from bits to atoms.