Coercion, Cognitive Capital, Value: On the Question of Principles of Knowledge Management

Abstract

The article analyzes ways to organize the so-called immaterial labor in the framework of the theory of cognitive capitalism (TCC). The author proceeds from the theory of immanent contradictions of cognitive capitalism formulated by Yann Moulier Boutang, Carlo Vercellone, Andre Gorz and developed in the works of other representatives of TCC: this is the contradiction between the autonomy of labor and its valorization, and the contradiction between the non-commodity nature of knowledge and strategies for its commodification. The following analysis is based on the assumption that labor organization regimes and organizational models are designed, firstly, to prevent the development of these contradictions, and secondly, to adapt to external socioeconomic conditions (uncertainty, the precarization of hiring, the volatility of prices for intangible assets, crises). Due to the weak theoretical development of the problem of labor organization within the framework of the TCC, the article offers a reconstruction of the views of these authors on the problem. The paper offers two versions of the answer to the question about the organization of immaterial labor within the TCC: the version suggested by Moulier Boutang originates from the hypothesis of network coordination developed in the works of Yochai Benkler and Walter Powell, while the second version derives from the assumption of a weak structural determinacy of the actions of autonomous agents that are integrated into the value chain through the process of subjectivation. The author criticizes the given assumptions of the TCC and puts forward a number of theoretical propositions that justify the hypothesis of the transition to a Neo-Taylorist model of management of immaterial labor.