Call for Abstracts: Conference Panel ”The Marxist Critique of the Political Economy of the Media” (2 sessions)
Part of the 2nd Marx Conference, Stockholm, Sweden. October 14-16, 2016.
Venue: ABF-huset, Sveavägen 41.
Website: http://www.marx2016.org
Convenors: Arwid Lund, Uppsala University, Sweden; Christian Fuchs, University of Westminster, UK.
Supported by the open access journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique (http://www.triple-c.at)
Details: http://www.triple-c.at/index.
Abstract submission: max. 250 words. Deadline January 31, 2016. Submission to: arwid.lund@abm.uu.se.
Please indicate to which of the two sessions you submit (see below). Each session will consist of a panel of four speakers, 15 min. for each presentation, and half an hour for concluding questions and discussions.
In 2013, a very successful Marx conference was held in Stockholm, gathering 2000 activists and scholars, with keynote speakers such as Michael Heinrich and Wolfgang Haug. The main topic of the conference was Marxist theory as a tool for analysing contemporary society. 2016’s follow-up conference (Marx2016) aims at political openings and potentials for a world beyond capitalism based on a thorough analysis of contemporary society. The general theme of the conference is To change a changed world.
The conference consists of four main tracks. One of the sub-tracks will focuses on Marxist studies of media, communication and information
There will be two sessions based on the following questions and themes:
Theme 1: Digital labour, Marx and Dallas Smythe:
In 1977, almost 40 years ago, Dallas Smythe published his seminal article “Communications: Blindspot of Western Marxism”, in which he introduced the notions of audience labour and the audience commodity.
This session asks: What is the relevance of “audience labour” for the political project of Marxism and the analysis of online participants and user generated content in the age of commercial social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Google? Does it matter for Marxism as a political project if the analysis of digital capitalism is based on the concepts of surplus-value or rent?
Theme 2: Exploitation 2.0: Class and Exploitation in the Digital Age:
Capitalism is a dynamic, dialectical system that changes in order to maintain its fundamental structures of exploitation. The rise of the computer, digitisation and the Internet’s role in the economy and society has brought about changes of class structures.
This session asks: How have class and exploitation changed in the age of digital media? How can we analyse unpaid activities on commercial platforms with the help of class and other concepts such as the multitude and exploitation? What is the role of conflicts and struggles between users and the owners of corporate Internets platforms (such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Weibo, Amazon, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, etc.). Can peer production and non-commercial, alternative online media challenge capitalism? What are the implications of digital Marxism and media Marxism for Marxist theory and socialist politics?
The sub-theme of The Marxist Critique of the Political Economy of the Media will be accompanied by one keynote talk in a general plenary session that provides a general introduction to the Marxist political economy of media, information and communication:
Christian Fuchs: “The Marxist Critique of the Political Economy of Media in the Age of Digital Capitalism”.
