Machines against measure : how to escape the constant measuring of work under capitalism / Irene Sotiropoulou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sotiropoulou, Irene, author.

Series:

Autonomy and automation.

Autonomy and automation

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor productivity--Effect of technological innovations on.

Labor productivity.

Labor productivity--Measurement.

Industrial efficiency--Effect of technological innovations on.

Industrial efficiency.

Industrial efficiency--Measurement.

Performance--Management.

Performance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (177 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

Place of Publication:

London [England] : Bloomsbury, 2022.

Summary:

"Are we doomed because of the new digital technologies used in workspaces? Can we avoid measuring in our work? Or are we trapped in a metrification dystopia? Can we create workspaces that can produce what we prefer about human effort, and if yes, what technologies could we use? Here, monetary-theorist Irene Sotiropoulou criticises the production means that were created for capitalist profit-making and, at the same time, shows how we can subvert these and use them for our own non-capitalist purposes. The book will show that in times of capitalist restructuring and multiple social reproduction crises, there are new possibilities to experiment with quantity, measuring, machines and digital technologies in order to create new ways of production and transaction. Within these are ways of sharing that defy many principles of capitalist production. Using everyday examples from grassroots organisations that give us insights on how to be inventive with what we have at hand, this book reveals a more utopian vision of technology and work, based on re-defining how we measure what we do"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I: the non-mainstream modes of transaction and production and the quantity question

1. Introduction: the non-mainstream modes of transaction & production, or when what works in practice struggles to work in theory

2. Theoretical background: Capitalist patriarchy, quantification, historical materialism in the field and the "alternatives" to capitalism

3. Theory again: Is measuring a form of violence?

4. Approaches, research methodologies the quantitative methods problem

Part II:

The practices of quantifying otherwise

5. Quantities and measures in the non-mainstream field

6. The question of time

7. The question of value

8. ICTs in the non-mainstream field

9. Machines otherwise?

Part III: Machines, measures and (social) reproduction

10. Machines, measures, and the neoliberal version of capitalist patriarchy

11. Machines and measures in service of (social) reproduction

12. Capitalist patriarchal reprise: measures and machines as contested means of (re)production

13. Conclusion: "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" and the options we have

Bibliography

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

ISBN:

9780755639625

0755639626

9780755639618

0755639618

9780755639601

075563960X

OCLC:

1375298329