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      Call for Papers: Hierarchies of domesticity – spatial and social boundaries. Deadline for submissions is 30th September, 2024Full details can be read here.

      Articles to be no longer than 6,000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography) and submitted in two forms: an anonymised version in which all references to the authors’ institution and publications are omitted; and a full version including the authors’ titles and institutional affiliations. For complete instructions on style, formatting, etc., please consult: https://www.plutojournals.com/wp-content/uploads/WOLG-Instructions-for-Authors2023.pdf 

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      Immaterial Fordism: the paradox of game industry labour

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      research-article
      Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation
      Pluto Journals
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            Abstract

            In different ways, Marxist autonomist, regulation school, and neoliberal theories all claim that work in the new economy is increasingly characterised by high levels of creativity, cooperation, and innovation, albeit accompanied by uncertainty and a relentless pace of work, introducing a new form of labour that differs fundamentally from past forms. This paper does not disagree with the proposition that capital is currently in the process of intensifying its search for more efficient value extraction. However, through a case study of lawsuits launched against the video game company Electronic Arts regarding its labour practices, it argues that the change in the nature of knowledge work and immaterial labour has been overstated by the adherents of these three schools and that what we are witnessing is not so much a replacement of traditional Fordist practices by post-Fordist ones as a new fusion of the two forms.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.13169
            workorgalaboglob
            Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation
            Pluto Journals
            1745641X
            17456428
            Winter 2006-2007
            : 1
            : 1
            : 144-155
            Article
            workorgalaboglob.1.1.0144
            10.13169/workorgalaboglob.1.1.0144
            a5bf6e28-0286-44bd-9992-eab72cfd0885
            © Leif Schumacher, 2006

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History

            Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

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