Conference Stream Work

When labour is more and more defined by algorithms, not much seems to be left at stake. Rankings and ratings state networked laborers’ performance, algorithmic architectures regulate and control workplace routines, and numbers of “likes” constantly intensify and translate social interaction into work. In the days of machinic capitalism everything is datafied and thus commodified. “Task rabbits”, knowledge workers and social media users all confront a similar impasse: a 24/7 working time of constant availability and subtle control. How can one really escape the technologies of total capture? How can one withdraw and reclaim the right to refuse to work?

The panel will aim to locate and discuss the new processes of capital accumulation which support today's material and immaterial labour and will particularly raise questions about the possibility of resistance: Is unionisation and organisation in digital labor at all possible? What does it take to build new bonds of solidarity and what would they be driven by?