This post discusses Christian Fuchs and his ideas on Social Media’s
International Division of Labour. Fuchs explains the concept of labour behind
the social media. When thinking of the concept of social media you must think
of the electronics that provide us access to it. Electronics such as laptops
and smartphones are all produced by large corporations such as Apple. This
leads to one of the largest misconceptions. Fuchs article discusses how people often jump to the conclusion that Apple is the corporation that makes
their products. Fuchs discusses the concept of ICTs ICTs stand for Information and
Communication Technologies. When you ask people where their ICTs come from such
as laptops or IPhones they automatically think Apple. However, majority of the
products are made in another country where labour is cheaper to produce. Not
only is the labour cheaper to produce but so are the minerals. Many people
don’t know that electronics are made from minerals found mainly in countries
such as China and Africa.
This leads into the concept of factory
workers. Fuchs explains that the minerals mined from Africa and China then go
into factories that manufacture the products themselves. Fuchs says that the
production process is invisible to the user, but without this labour ICT would
not exist because they are objectifications of complex human labour processes
that are organized in an international division of digital labour. Which is
referred to as DDL. Which means, even though we don’t see this type of labour,
doesn’t mean it does not exist. We often forget about the behind the scenes
production of the products that we use each and every day.
Fuchs
stresses the modes of production and the means of production. The modes of
production refers to the varied ways that human beings produce. The means of
production is the resources and places used to produce. This concept uses Karl
Marx’s ideologies of modes of production, part of this ideology is the idea of
material things having a “use- value.” Marxist tradition explores how the
notions of the modes of production can be connected to the concept of the new
international division of labour. In order to do this we must explore class
relationships. These relationships of production are forms of organizing
capital labour. Apple has its headquarters in America but has its factories in
Taiwan and China. This is an example of class relations according to Fuchs.
Fuchs uses Marxist ideologies when claiming that the Americans are a higher
class and exploit those of a lower class who work in their factories.
Critical scholars introduce the notion of
the new international division of labour
known as NDL in the 1980s: the survival of more and more companies can only be
assured through the relocation of production to new industrial sites where
labour power is cheap to buy, abundant, and well-disciplined. Thus, we see why
American companies choose to relocate their production in other countries.
Do you guys believe these companies are wrong fro exploiting workers as a form of cheap labour? Or do you believe it is a strategic business move?
I definitely think it is wrong for companies like Apple to be outsourcing their production processes to countries like China and Africa where they exploit their workers to take advantage of cheaper labour costs. I think it is sad that corporations that are already earning so much money are so profit-driven to the point where they have no regard for human life. In your presentation, I particularly remember the video you showed us about the Foxconn factory in which they installed nets to catch people who tried to commit suicide. It is sad that this is how they chose to address the problem, rather than focusing on the actual underlying problem, which is that the workers are working under tough conditions that are too much for them to handle. This is the harsh reality we live in with all these money hungry corporations. It is easy to ignore what is going on in countries that are so far away. Some of the workers in these countries have no other option but to work in these factories that have harsh conditions, and multinational corporations take advantage of this. Of course a profit-driven company is more likely to go the route where they can pay much less on labour costs than spend more even if it meant that workers would be treated under proper conditions. Unfortunately, these practises are likely to persist as long as consumers continue to purchase their products and stay passive about what is happening in the labour process of their products.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post, and a great overall depiction of the issue and reading at hand. I especially enjoyed how you highlighted the idea of the production process being invisible to the user, and how without this labour "ICT would not exist because they are objectifications of complex human labour processes that are organized in an international division of digital labour.". After reading you post it got me thinking thoroughly about the question of thinking if it is are wrong for exploiting workers as a form of cheap labour. After contrasting your notion, to some of the underlying theme for the class I come to the conclusion that it is wrong. It is most obviously wrong when looking at it through the eyes of some of the large corporations that in still this idea of labour. They create so much revenue from their products it seems like they can find a more passive way to treat labours. Yet, as I previously mentioned, a great post overall.
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