Frankfurt School Legacy and the Critical Sociology of Media

Lifeworld in Digital Capitalism

Bibliographic Data

ID2371080
AuthorsPaško Bilić (0000-0001-5174-7073, Institute for Development and International Relations, Croatia, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue4-5
Pages615-628
Publication date2024-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/08969205231201386
OpenAlexW4387502334
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited49

Just as the Frankfurt School responded to the radicalisation of the working class in Germany and the rise of post-war consumerism in the United States, today, we are confronted by platform monopolies, automated hyper-consumption and technological control. Critical approaches to digital media have exposed the structural coupling of Internet use and capital accumulation for almost two decades. However, many authors building on this tradition can struggle to understand how online social interaction is controlled beyond the worn-out critique of false consciousness or beyond conceptualising all digital activity mediated by data as labour. This paper will attempt to theoretically untangle the Marxian ontology of labour and the Frankfurt School-inspired critique of everyday life. This is not just theoretical nit-picking. Society becomes completely dominated if we accept no difference between wage labour and lifeworld activities. Each contains its internal struggles. The value form regulates both in different ways

Capitalism · Consumerism · Critical theory · Everyday life · Lifeworld · Media studies · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Surplus value · Wage · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Political Economy and Marxism

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