Page 6 - Critical Theory of Communication as Critical Sociology of Critique

FUCHS: CRITICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION AS CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF CRITIQUE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL CAPITALISM

their labour pleasurable, self-fulf lling and fun. At the same time, they often work under precarious conditions (of-
ten as freelancers), so that there is often a divergence between the experience of the contents and the conditions
of their work. This contradiction is a nucleus of potential political organisation.
The share of routine occupation in all occupation has increased from 36.0% in 1991 to 37.1% in 2016 (ILO
2015). These are occupations that tend to be monotonous, repetitive and mentally exhausting. In 2016, the
share of non-routine cognitive work in worldwide occupation was just 18.3% and the share of non-routine man-
ual work 37.1% (ILO 2015). These data show us that we should not overestimate the importance of information
work in total global occupation. There continues to be a very signif cant share of the world’s population that con-
ducts exhaustive, monotonous, repetitive labour that is not at all considered to be self-fulf lling. The phenomenon
of the new spirit of capitalism, as described by Boltanski and Chiapello, is certainly a relevant tendency. It would,
however, be a mistake, Western-centric and a neglect of the reality of labour in many developing countries to
see the new spirit of capitalism as the world economy’s dominant tendency. Toil continues to be an important
reality in the capitalist world economy. And given this fact, the demand to abolish hard, exhaustive, repetitive,
monotonous, dangerous, harmful and unnecessary labour remains very important today. In respect to the cri-
tique of actually existing toil, the combination of the artistic critique (the critique of the lack of self-realisation and
pleasure in work) and the social critique (the critique of inequalities and exploitation that shape such labour) of
capitalism is certainly important.
What I term the international division of digital labour (IDDL) is a global manifold system of exploitation that
underpins our use of digital media in everyday life (see Fuchs, 2014b; Fuchs, 2015, chapter 6; Fuchs, 2016b).
A critical theory of digital media therefore has to be a critique of relations of exploitation taking place in this
international division, a critique of forms of domination that are articulated with the IDDL, a critique of ideologies
trying to justify such exploitation and domination, an analysis of associated contradictions, and an analysis of
potential struggles and alternatives.
Labour minus alienation does indeed not equal creativity. A society, in which humans control their conditions
and products of work and life, is a democratic commons-based society. The appropriate political demand is there-
fore “democratic commons for all”. On the one hand, “communism” is one of the terms that gained problematic
connotations, because of the Stalinst realities of the 20th century. It is therefore important to pref x democracy
so that we can stress that another, different communism is possible today. On the other hand, communism is one
of the few terms that is not easily subsumable under capitalist ideology and can signify the need for true alterna-
tives. Labour minus alienation means society minus capitalism and class plus the commons. It means commonism.
When I speak about concrete political alternatives in Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media, I
tend to invoke the idea of a democratic-commons-based media system in a democratic-commonist society (see
Fuchs, 2015, p. 234). I do not speak of creativity. “Alternative, non-commercial, non-prof t platforms need to be
constructed as economic alternatives” (Fuchs, 2015, p. 380). “Commons-based social media and public service
social media are possible, needed, and necessary” (Fuchs, 2015, p. 380).

Boltanski and Chiapello: Sociology of critique, critical
sociology, or critical sociology of critique?

Luc Boltanski & Ève Chiapello (2005) have formulated a compelling critique of the ideological subsumption of
counter-cultures under the logic of capitalism. They show that the spirit of 1968 has turned into a new ideology
of capitalism.
The artistic critique of capitalism criticises “capitalism as a source of disenchantment and inauthenticity” and
“a source of oppression, inasmuch as it is opposed to the freedom, autonomy and creativity of the human be-
ings” (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2005, p. 37). The social critique of capitalism criticises “capitalism as a source
of poverty among workers and of inequalities on an unprecedented scale” and “capitalism as a source of

CONJUNCTIONS, VOL. 3, NO. 1, 2016, ISSN 2246-3755 | PAGE 6