Response to Dallas Smythe Today in Terms of Marxism - Essay Example

Response paper Of late, there seems to be an increase of interest in the role of Marxism especially in the media and communication studies. The increase is spurred by the emergence of neoliberalism, commodification of nearly everything and the worldwide capitalist crisis. As such, this paper is a response to Dallas Smythe Today -The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labor Debate, Marxist Political Economy, and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labor Theory of Value. In addition to providing insight into Christian Fuchs’s analysis of Dallas Smythe Today -The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labor Debate, Marxist Political Economy, and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labor Theory of Value., the paper will provide a brief but detailed summary of the document. Christian Fuchs analyzes and critically evaluates some of the basics of the Marxist media and communication studies. Also, he takes a peek at the resurgence of interest in the element of commodification of communication and the media. Christian Fuchs’ main objective in analyzing the document was to view the study of media and communication from a Marxist viewpoint. To explore Dallas Smythe Today -The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labor Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labor Theory of Value., Fuchs first commences by discussing the significance employing a Marxist approach to the study of media and communication. Secondly, he focuses on the re-emergence of the audience commodity concept. Third, he looks at the concept of internet prosumer commodification. Lastly, Fuchs provides an analysis of the ideological challenges that affect the media and communication field and changes in the field. Moreover, he gives an insight into how labor and play interact or relate in a capitalistic environment. Basically, Marxism as an ideology is a global view and method of analyzing the society with a focus on societal conflicts and class relations. The analysis employs a materialist and dialectical interpretation of social and historical development and transformation. As such, the methodology (Marxist) both socio-political and economic analysis which it subsequently applies to the evaluation and critique of the transformation of capitalism. Primarily, the basic tenets of Marxism ideology were advocated by both Karl Max and Friedrich Engels. Since the commencement of the 2008 financial crisis, a lot of scholars have developed renewed interest in Karl Marx’s works. Capitalism has led to an ever-increasing gap between the haves and have-nots in the world. Moreover, there is an increase in the uncertainty of labor. Since the Marxist ideology encompasses a philosophical method, sociological theory, and economic theory, it has been used to criticize the political economy. However, the ideology has been employed to in the digital media. To comprehend the current socio-economic disparity, and capitalism contradictions, people have first to ask the Marxist questions. Actually, both political and economic liberalism combined or singly can’t solve the 21st century’s problems. As such, Fuchs argues that it is vital to look at the Marxism methodology quite seriously. Consequently, Fuchs supports Smythe’s insistence for the development of a Marxist theory to encompass the digital media. Smythe often advocated for the study of the digital media in a non-administrative and critical way so as to cater to the needs of the relevant societies. Smythe (1994) outlined 8 aspects of a Marxist methodology to study media and communications: materiality, capitalism monopoly, audience commodification/advertising, labor power, technological determinism critique, media communication as an element of capitalism, the elements of ideology, hegemony and consciousness, and dialects of science and art (694). In light of this, Smythe reiterates the significance of employing a Marxist methodology in the study of the media and communications in a capitalistic environment. Marx commences his evaluation of capitalism by focusing on the commodity. Thus, the commodity’s exchange value, use value, value, the amount of labor included in it, and the money factor are evaluated. Next, he progresses to analyze the ideology factor. Marx implied that ideologies give legitimacy to ideas or things. Therefore, commodification and ideology are the primary elements of capitalism. Thus, in developing a Marxist communication theory, both commodification and ideology aspects should be included. Some scholars have criticized both the critical political economy theory and the critical theory as to being biased. However, Fuchs argues that that conclusion is as a result of an evaluation of specific selected readings. He further states that both theories possess different weights while focusing on the alternatives/ideology, audiences, and media commodification. Hence, the two theories should instead complement each other in analyzing the digital media. Nevertheless, critical political economy and the critical theory should be open to relate with each other instead of staying wholly pure. However, Fuchs insists that focus should always be maintained on the significance of class and capitalism throughout the whole analysis. Fuchs further analyzed Smythe’s blind spot argument. Smythe came up with the audience commodity argument in his 1951 book “the consumer’s stake in radio and television”. Smythe argues that in the media, the product is normally paid for twice. First by the sponsors of the programs, and secondly by the audience members. This shows that both television and radio programs are not free. Smythe in his analysis introduces the concept of audience commodity so as to analyze and evaluate the various media advertisements. In these adverts, the media sells the audience to the advertisers. Thus, the audience is the commodity. Audience power attracts a price since it is normally purchased, sold and consequently consumed. Therefore, a price is attached to it. Although some scholars argue that the program the audience is viewing is the wage, Fuchs disagrees with them. He counters their argument by stating that the act of viewing a TV is not a wage (703). This implies that all media aspects are exploitative. Despite other scholars stating that the programs or media platforms can act as wages, a person cannot translate the time spent watching into money. These arguments do not figure out that in capitalism, money is the most important factor. In order to access services in a capitalist world, you have to be able to pay for them. Thus, money is a vital element that should not be ignored. Social sites or networks commodify user data. As such, their services cannot be said to be free. Users of sites such as Facebook could receive money if the relationship between users and the media was structured in wage relationship. The users would then use the wage/money to pay or buy other things. The concept of audience commodification has been widely accepted by political economists due to the spread of adverts in the media. Hence, there is an interest in Smythe’s argument as to whether the media audience is being exploited. Fuchs agrees with Smythe that the art of audience commodification exploits users. This led Fuchs to come up with the term internet prosumer commodity. An analysis carried out revealed that a majority of website platforms employed targeted surveillance and advertising and consequently commoditized the user’s data. The web platforms lie to users that they are only using the data to enhance or improve their experience. On the contrary, these platforms sell the user data to commercial companies. So, coercion, alienation, and appropriation are the three major elements contained in the process of digital labor exploitation (703). Some scholars critique the element of digital labor. For instance, David (2010) stated that digital labor is not exploited mainly because, in our societies, a lot of work is unpaid for (731). He goes ahead to give an example of people playing or practicing instruments or playing football. Nevertheless, according to Fuchs, David confuses these two hobbies. Thus, he confuses a hobby activity where although labor is used, there is no commodification, and a hobby where value is generated and consequently shared by companies. Therefore, the digital labor and the audience are basically exploited by corporate commercial companies because they (audience) are not excluded from being part of the owners of the firms, the revenue generated doesn’t benefit the audience materialistically and the generated revenue is appropriated by the firms. Conclusion There is a resurgence of interest in the works of Karl Marx, the critical political and critical theory, and subsequent criticism of capitalism. Marxism should be strongly employed in the study of media and communications. Smythe gave insight into the commodification of the audience by the digital media. The art of watching TV or using the internet lead to value creation. The audience thereby acts as a commodity. In light of these, it is important to include Marxism while studying the digital media in a capitalistic world. Also, rather than being used differently, the critical political economy and critical theory should complement each other while being used in the study of the media and communication. Moreover, Smythe’s concept of the commodification of the audience is becoming more important when analyzing the exploitation of the audience by media commercial companies. The exploitation encompasses three factors; alienation, appropriation, and coercion. Internet companies tap user data and then sell the data to advertisers as a commodity. Nonetheless, consumers are exploited by digital firms. While they (consumers) think they are having fun, for example by watching TV programs or using social sites. While they are having fun, the internet companies are busy tapping user data and consequently selling it to commercial companies. Works Cited Fuchs, Christian. "Dallas Smythe Today-The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory. Prolegomena to a Digital Labour Theory of Value." tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society 10.2 (2012): 692-740. Print Read More