The soul at work: from alienation to autonomy

"Capital has managed to overcome the dualism of body and soul by establishing a workforce in which everything we mean by the Soul—language, creativity, affects—is mobilized for its own benefit. Industrial production put to work bodies, muscles, and arms. Now, in the sphere of digital technology...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Berardi, Franco
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles 2009
Semiotext(e)
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19132682124919508649-The-soul-at-work-from-alienati.htm
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author Berardi, Franco
author_facet Berardi, Franco
collection Library items
description "Capital has managed to overcome the dualism of body and soul by establishing a workforce in which everything we mean by the Soul—language, creativity, affects—is mobilized for its own benefit. Industrial production put to work bodies, muscles, and arms. Now, in the sphere of digital technology and cyberculture, exploitation involves the mind, language, and emotions in order to generate value—while our bodies disappear in front of our computer screens. In this, his newest book, Franco "Bifo" Berardi—key member of the Italian Autonomist movement and a close associate of Félix Guattari—addresses these new forms of estrangement. In the philosophical landscape of the 1960s and 1970s, the Hegelian concept of alienation was used to define the harnessing of subjectivity. The estrangement of workers from their labor, the feeling of alienation they experienced, and their refusal to submit to it became the bases for a human community that remained autonomous from capital. But today a new condition of alienation has taken root in which workers commonly and voluntarily work overtime, the population is tethered to cell phones and Blackberries, debt has become a postmodern form of slavery, and antidepressants are commonly used to meet the unending pressure of production. As a result, the conditions for community have run aground and new philosophical categories are needed. The Soul at Work is a clarion call for a new collective effort to reclaim happiness."
format TEXT
id 19132682124919508649_68532434ec0b4f988704d33eaa59a96e
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19132682124919508649_68532434ec0b4f988704d33eaa59a96e
is_hierarchy_title The soul at work: from alienation to autonomy
language English
physical 229 p.
Paper
publishDate 2009
publisher Los Angeles
Semiotext(e)
spellingShingle Berardi, Franco
occupational psychology
privacy
social theory
value system
work
work attitude
The soul at work: from alienation to autonomy
title The soul at work: from alienation to autonomy
topic occupational psychology
privacy
social theory
value system
work
work attitude
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19132682124919508649-The-soul-at-work-from-alienati.htm