[P2P-F] Fwd: [Networkedlabour] A new article by Jakob Rigi

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jakob Rigi <rigij at ceu.hu>
Date: Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 2:42 AM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] A new article by Jakob Rigi
To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org, johan.soderberg at sts.gu.se

Hello all,

I enclose below the title and abstract of an article that I have recently
published in tripleC. As you will see from the title and abstract I attempt
to develop a Marxist theory of the political economy of in formation.

Cheers
Jakob
Foundations of a Marxist Theory of the Political Economy of Information:
Trade Secrets and Intellectual Property, and the Production of Relative
Surplus Value and the Extraction of Rent-Tribute
*Jakob Rigi*

Abstract

The aim of this article is to sketch a preliminary outline of a Marxist
theory of the political economy of information. It defines information as a
symbolic form that can be digitally copied. This definition is purely
formal and disregards epistemological, ideological, and functional aspects.
The article argues that the value of information defined in this sense
tends to zero and therefore the price of information is rent. However,
information plays a central role in the production of relative surplus
value on the one hand, and the distribution of the total social surplus
value in forms of surplus profits and rents, on the other. Thus, the
hegemony of information technologies in contemporary productive forces has
not made Marx’s theory of value irrelevant. On the contrary, the political
economy of information can only be understood in the light of this theory.
The article demonstrates that the capitalist production and distribution of
surplus value at the global level forms the foundation of the political
economy of information.

Keywords
Information; Value; Relative Surplus Value; Surplus Profit; Information Rent





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