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"Following on her brilliant The Making of a Cybertariat, a modern classic in the analysis of class and gender, work and consumption, Huws turns her sharp eye to the present crisis into which the cybertariat 'has come of age.' Rich in theoretical and methodological insights, Labor in the Global Digital Economy carefully guides us through the world of transnational business, value chains, creative, precarious and knowledge labor, self-service consumers, and consumption workers. Challenging accepted thinking and providing enough wisdom to fill several volumes, Huws has once again demonstrated her preeminence among analysts of work and inequality in digital capitalism."-Vincent Mosco, author, To the Cloud: Big Data in a Turbulent World.

We have now entered a period&hellip;when new waves of commodification set in motion in earlier periods are reaching maturity. The new commodities have been generated by drawing into the market even more aspects of life that were previously outside the money economy, or at least that part of it that generates a profit for capitalists. Several such fields of accumulation have now emerged, each with a different method of commodity genesis, forming the basis of new economic sectors and exerting distinctive impacts on daily life, including labor and consumption. They include biology, art and culture, public services, and sociality.<p class="mrlink">This article can also be found at the <a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-66-number-7" title="Vol. 66, No. 7: January 2015" target="_blank"><em>Monthly Review</em> website</a>, where most recent articles are published in full.</p><p class="mrpurchaselink"><a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-66-number-7" title="Vol. 66, No. 7: January 2015" target="_self">Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the <em>Monthly Review</em> website.</a></p>

The commodification of art and culture is the continuation of a process with a long history. Artistic work has been paid labor for centuries, and cultural commodities also have a long pedigree, produced under a variety of social and contractual conditions. What has changed in recent years has been the scale of their incorporation into capitalist productive relations, the concentration of capital in these sectors, and the introduction of a global division of labor into the production of cultural commodities. In the late twentieth century, the income and working conditions of writers, film-makers, and musicians were largely dictated by the terms they could negotiate with vertically organized film companies, record companies, and publishers whose profits were directly linked to the sale or distribution of commodities such as films, records, CDs, books, and magazines. Now the markets are increasingly dominated by companies that produce hardware alongside distributing the content for them. Adapted from the source document.

Draws on a conception of capitalism as a dynamic force propelled by the "interrelated processes of commodification & accumulation" to examine the movement toward global industrialization in which all workers contribute to the process of capital accumulation & the production/circulation of commodities that workers must purchase to ensure their survival. The proletariat of the 21st century is defined & new information & communication technologies (ICTs) are examined as technologies of both production & consumption. Special attention is given to the "fault-line," commonly referred to as the digital divide, between those who possess & those who are without ICTs. The position of office workers in their local labor market & in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere is analyzed in relation to the technical division of labor; the functional relationship of work to capital; the social division of labor; comparative income; & social "status." It is contended that the emergence of a class consciousness among information-processing workers is inhibited by strong counterforces, especially racism. J. Lindroth

Draws on a conception of capitalism as a dynamic force propelled by the "interrelated processes of commodification & accumulation" to examine the movement toward global industrialization in which all workers contribute to the process of capital accumulation & the production/circulation of commodities that workers must purchase to ensure their survival. The proletariat of the 21st century is defined & new information & communication technologies (ICTs) are examined as technologies of both production & consumption. Special attention is given to the "fault-line," commonly referred to as the digital divide, between those who possess & those who are without ICTs. The position of office workers in their local labor market & in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere is analyzed in relation to the technical division of labor; the functional relationship of work to capital; the social division of labor; comparative income; & social "status." It is contended that the emergence of a class consciousness among information-processing workers is inhibited by strong counterforces, especially racism. J. Lindroth

Digital technological platforms that facilitate the provision of many services are a relatively new development in the economy, especially in the labour market. As they are becoming increasingly prevalent, the characteristics of this business model are gradually revealed. The model creates many novel ways to make goods available and generate income, but it also translates into a new quality of work. In the discussion of the labour market segment operating based on technological platforms, the world literature tends to employ the concepts of the gig economy and cybertariat, which are unequivocally negative in their connotations. The paper discusses the relationship between technological innovations and work. It aims to determine the characteristics of work carried out through digital technological platforms in the cross-section of the major dimensions of quality work. The paper presents the verification of the research hypothesis assuming that the business model adopted by digital technological platforms threatens the standards of quality work. The analysis uses the methodology designed by the author and employs the criteria developed by the European Anti-Poverty Network, constituting the quintessence of the contemporary approach to the issue in the European Union. Its main conclusion is that the gig economy segment is highly heterogeneous, which makes it difficult to assess and discuss the problems arising in this segment and their solutions. In consequence, it requires a clarification through adequate classifications and identification of problem groups. However, the research results reveal that a significant part of the gig economy generates very low quality work. ; Cyfrowe platformy technologiczne pośredniczące w świadczeniu wielu usług są relatywnie nowym zjawiskiem w gospodarce, szczególnie na rynku pracy. Wraz z poszerzaniem się zakresu ich wykorzystania, stopniowo ujawniają się właściwości tego modelu biznesowego. Tworzy on wiele nieznanych wcześniej możliwości dostępu do dóbr i osiągania dochodów, ale kształtuje też nową jakość pracy. W opisach segmentu rynku pracy rozwijającego się w oparciu o platformy technologiczne w światowej literaturze przedmiotu coraz częściej pojawiają się pojęcia gospodarki fuch (gig economy) i cybertariatu, czyli kategorie o zdecydowanie negatywnym wydźwięku. Artykuł odnosi się do relacji pomiędzy innowacjami technologicznymi a światem pracy. Jego celem jest diagnoza cech pracy realizowanej za pośrednictwem cyfrowych platform technologicznych w przekroju głównych wymiarów jakości pracy. W artykule, przy wykorzystaniu autorskiej metody, poddano weryfikacji hipotezę badawczą stanowiącą, że model biznesowy realizowany przez cyfrowe platformy technologiczne zagraża standardom jakości pracy. Do analizy jakości pracy zastosowano kryteria wypracowane przez European Anti-Poverty Network, stanowiące kwintesencję współczesnego podejścia do tego problemu w Unii Europejskiej. Badanie prowadzi do wniosku, że segment gig economy jest dalece niejednorodny, co utrudnia ocenę i dyskusję nad rodzącymi się problemami i ich rozwiązaniami. Wymaga zatem doprecyzowania za pomocą odpowiednich klasyfikacji i wyodrębnienia grup problemowych. Wyniki badań wskazują jednak na to, że znaczna część gig economy generuje pracę bardzo niskiej jakości. ; This research was funded by the University of Economics in Katowice, Department of Economics statutory sources.

Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Contributors -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Global Intimate Economies: Discontents and Debates -- Gifts and Commodities -- Discontents with Commercial Intimacy Spelled Out -- Globalized Intimate Labor a Commodity? -- Bodies as Commodities -- The Value of Living Matter -- Intimate Labor and Alienation -- Intimate Economies and Economic Justice -- Structure of the Book -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Part I: Commodifying Affects, Emotions and Selves -- Chapter 2: The "Authentic Cybertariat"? Commodifying Feeling, Accents, and Cultural Identities in the Global South -- Introduction -- The Cybertariat and the Absent-Present Body -- Emotional Labor and Commercialization of Human Feeling -- "Authenticity Work" and Commodification of Identity -- Racialization and Aesthetic Labor -- Methodology -- The Alien and the Familiar: The Paradox of the Call Center -- Image Management and Cultural Immersion -- Performativity and Imaginaries of the "Western Worker" -- Emotional Labor and Regulation of Feeling on the Shop Floor -- Conclusion -- Note -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Regulating Sexy Subjects: The Case of Brazilian Fashion Retail and Its Affective Workforce -- Introduction -- Commodities, Desires and Diversity -- Self-commodification and Affective Labor -- Limited Freedom, New Controls -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Chapter 4: Emotional Labor and Ethical Practice: Professionalism Among Sex Workers in Tijuana -- Introduction -- Sex Work and Emotional Labor -- Selling the "Girlfriend Experience" or Onda Novia -- Sex Work, Emotion Management and Capitalism -- Managing Negative Emotions -- Achieving Calmness -- Dealing with Abusive Behavior -- Emotional Labor and Estrangement -- Emotion Management, Professionalism and Sex Work Ethics -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Part II: Sexualized Bodies on the Market