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Towards a Psychoanalytic Concept of Affective-Digital Labour
[journal article]
Abstract This article draws on the argument that users on corporate social media conduct labour through the sharing of user-generated content. Critical political economists argue that such acts contribute to value creation on social media and are therefore to be seen as labour. Following a brief introduction... view more
This article draws on the argument that users on corporate social media conduct labour through the sharing of user-generated content. Critical political economists argue that such acts contribute to value creation on social media and are therefore to be seen as labour. Following a brief introduction of this paradigm, I relate it to the notion of affective labour which has been popularised by the Marxist thinkers Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. To them, affective labour (as a sub-category of immaterial labour) denotes embodied forms of labour that are about passion, well-being, feelings of ease, immaterial products and generally a kind of communicative relationality between individuals. I point to some problems with a lack of clarity in their conceptualisation of affective labour and argue that the Freudian model of affect can help in theorising affective labour further through a focus on social media. According to Freud, affect can be understood as a subjective, bodily experience which is in tension with the discursive and denotes a momentary feeling of bodily dispossession. In order to illustrate those points, I draw on some data from a research project which featured interviews with social media users who have facial disfigurements about their affective experiences online. The narratives attempt to turn embodied experiences into discourse.... view less
Keywords
psychoanalysis; social media; digital media; affectivity; value added; labor; immaterial goods
Classification
Social Psychology
Interactive, electronic Media
Free Keywords
affective labour; digital labour
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 22-29
Journal
Media and Communication, 6 (2018) 3
Issue topic
The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies
ISSN
2183-2439
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed