Marx and the Robots

Networked Production, AI and Human Labour

By: Florian Butollo (Editor), Sabine Nuss (Editor), Jan-Peter Herrmann (Translator)

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Paperback | 20 February 2022

At a Glance

Paperback
336 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.5 x 13 x 3

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Marxist discourse around automation has recently become waylaid with breathless techno-pessimist dystopias and fanciful imaginations of automated luxury communism. This collection of essays by both established veterans of the field and new voices is a refreshingly sober materialist reflection on recent technological developments within capitalist production.

It covers a broad range of digital aspects now proliferating across our work and lives, including chapters on the digitalisation of agriculture, robotics in the factory and the labour process on crowdworking platforms. It looks to how 20th century Marxist predictions of the 'workerless factory' are, or are not, coming true, and how 'Platform Capitalism' should be understood and critiqued.

Through rich empirical, theoretical and historical material, this book is necessary reading for those wanting a clear overview of our digital world.

Industry Reviews

'Cuts through the hype about automation and artificial intelligence to explain how technologies actually make it from the showroom to the factory floor'

-- Aaron Benanav, author of 'Automation and the Future of Work'

'Excellent ... summarises the entire breadth of the debate about Marx and digitisation'

-- Soziologie Magazin

'Stands out, [...] bringing a remarkably wide range of perspectives to debates often dominated by technological determinism and fetishisation. A compelling analysis of contemporary trends that combines theoretical sophistication with an unusual breadth of empirical detail'

-- Virginia Doellgast, Professor of Comparative Employment Relations, ILR School, Cornell University

'In this engaging and valuable collection, Butollo and Nuss show how Marx's lens on the industrial revolution can help us examine and interpret the digital transformation'

-- John Zysman, Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley and Co-Founder, Co-director - Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE)

'Brilliant. From factory to platform, from value to variety, the authors analyse the past, present and futures of work. Highly recommended for radical educators'

-- Kendra Briken, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

'An essential volume on digitalisation and platforms, moving beyond technology fetishism and technological determinism to highlight the contradictory nature of technical change within capitalism'

-- Matt Vidal, Reader in Sociology and Political Economy, Loughborough University, London

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