Media, Information and Technoculture 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Culture Industry, Buzzfeed, Wage Slavery

• School: Western University
• Department: Media, Information and Technoculture
• Course: Media, Information and Technoculture 1020E
• Professor: Nick Dyer- Witheford

Document Summary

Relation of labour and capital a main focus of political economy. A site of cooperation: it takes many people with many skills in many places working together to make all the complex products which we depend on, combining of efforts. A site of conflict: benefits, time off, money, struggle as to how the extra value that is generated will be divided. Political debate between followers of smith and marx. Tendency to replace workers with machines: those that are unhappy or unruly. De-skilling: eliminating skilled labour in favour of dumbed down" jobs plus machines: reduce workers to an appendage of the machine, assembly line production. Re-skilling: machines need new kinds of labour to make and run machines. The long term tendency is: liquidation: elimination of workers via rise of robots and artificial intelligences. Media associated with ideal of creative work". Professional, high-status, well-paid, with autonomy: ie. responsibility and choice, not just an assembly line job.