Media, Information and Technoculture 2100F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Wage Slavery, Precarity, Scenic Design
27 Feb 2017
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MIT2100: Cultural Labor – Celebrity, Professionals, Precarity
Lecture 6 – Feb 14th, 2017
Labor and Capital
• Labor = Those who have to sell capacity to work at a job for wage or salary
o Labor that broadly encompasses all of us
• Capital = Employers who hire labor
o Buy people to work
• Relation of labor and capital a main focus of political economy
o Work as a social activity and an experience of cooperating with other people, can be
incredibly satisfying, but it is also true that there are issues of conflict
• Often involves conflict over wages, hours, conditions, etc.
o Issues of negotiation and of strife
Cultural Labor
• Media jos strogl assoiated ith ideal of reatie ork
• With intrinsic rewards in terms of artistry, self-expression and self development
• Possibilities of fame, status, celebrity, wealth
• Autonomy – (i.e.) Responsibility and choice
• Not just a age slae
• How far does cultural labor live up to this
image?
Workers in the Cultural Industries (H. p. 254)
• Workforce is growing
• Career prospects are uncertain
• Earning distribution is skewed
• Workers are younger than in other sectors
• Tend to hold multiple jobs
• Are often self employed or freelancers
• Work is irregular, contracts are short-term,
there is little job protection
• Workforce is growing = More competition and can be bad for the cultural industries workers
o More people than there are full time jobs
o Huge pool of people who want obtain these types of jobs
o The very number of those people affect the conditions that they work under → May
not be that great
• Media age: $24/hour
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