{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","title":"Critical Theory of Communication New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781911534044","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","id":"dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","uuid":"dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","title":"Critical Theory of Communication New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet","normalized_title":"criticaltheoryofcommunicationnewreadingsoflukácsadornomarcusehonnethandhabermasintheageoftheinternet","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781911534044","isbns":["9781911534044","9781911534051","9781911534068","9781911534075"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":236,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Critical%20Theory%20of%20Communication%20New%20Readings%20of%20Luk%C3%A1cs%2C%20Adorno%2C%20Marcuse%2C%20Honneth%20and%20Habermas%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20the%20Internet","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/dadb939e-7360-4727-a1fb-be08c2f7a611/search"},"page":{"printed_page":218,"pdf_page":222,"physical_index":222,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"318313d23c92126cedbefacc3d833aea06aa3951673a63dac654bdca5d3abcaa"},"chapter":"C H R I S T I A N F U C H S CRITICAL THEORY OF COMMUNICATION","content":"Information capitalism’s result is that humans are denied recognition and are alienated from society’s essence. Digital media are instruments and technologies of domination: many information and other workers are highly exploited, which fosters information corporations’ profits on the one side of the socioeconomic dialectic and precarity on the other. Surveillance ideologies and practices have erected a totalitarian system of control, in which citizens are categorically suspected to be terrorist and criminals. As a consequence, the Internet has in most parts of the world become a highly controlled communication network. In terms of culture, visibility and attention are highly stratified online and controlled by celebrities and corporations. Another aspect of digital culture are digital ideologies: digital ideologies not just celebrate digital entrepreneurialism, but also justify digital media corporations’ reifying practices. Apple, in its Supplier Responsibility 2015 Progress Report, for example, prides itself by claiming:\n\n“Excessive work hours are a widespread and persistent industry problem. At Apple, finding a solution remains a top priority. We limit workweeks to 60 hours, except in unusual circumstances, with at least one day of mandated rest every seven days. And all overtime must be strictly voluntary. […] We tracked over 1.1 million workers on average per week in our supply chain and 92 percent of all workweeks were compliant with our 60-hour maximum standard”.\n\nGiven that the International Labour Organization’s conventions and recommendations define the 40-hour week as a general standard, it is inhumane that Apple considers 60 hours to be an appropriate number of hours per week in the developing country companies that are part of its supply chain. Apple tries to create the impression that by monitoring working hours in its supply chain it really cares about workers. It tries to create the impression that a 60-hours working week is humane. Comparing these claims with international standards shows, however, that such attempts are manipulative and ideological.\n\nDigital media, however, are not just technologies of domination, but to a certain degree are also part of struggles for a society, in which humans overcome alienation and collectively control their conditions of life. We can find examples of online peer production that foster the digital commons instead of digital commodities. There are cultural co-operatives that question precarity and exploitation (see http://cultural.coop). There are progressive social movements that use social media in protests (Fuchs 2014a). And there are platforms for co-operative work that foreground how people can work together instead of performing the individual self online. Alternative tendencies questioning capitalism are certainly often much more precarious than the media world’s corporate and dominative mainstream. They nonetheless show the desire for a world beyond domination and exploitation. The world of information technology is one that is shaped by a dialectic of repression and emancipatory struggles. Digital media are technologies of domination and liberation at the same time. These potentials are, however, not equally distributed. In a class-based society, we can always take the dominative use of technologies for certain, whereas alternative uses aiming at liberation are much more fragile and precarious. Only political praxis can bring about humanity’s emancipation from repression. A critical theory of communication and society stands in solidarity with those who resist and oppose the corporationalisation, commodification and bureaucratisation of communication and the world.\n\n218\n\nCritical Theory of Communication","previous_page":217,"next_page":219}