The Ideological Reproduction: (Free) Labouring and (Social) Working within Digital Landscapes

Abstract

The present paper explores the role of (neo-)liberal ideology in reproducing digital labour. Drawing on Terranova’s concept of “free labour”, and Fuchs and Sevignani’s distinction between “work” and “labour”, the author claims that theorization of Web 2.0 practices requires the exploration of ideology as a material force and a contradictory phenomenon. More specifically, the paper considers the capability of ideology to mediate between the valorization and exploitation of user-generated content and the utopian thrust that re-signifies unpaid labour into apparently engaged practices resonating with liberal ideology. In the last section, the paper takes Facebook as an exemplification of such an ideological synthesis of exploitative and normative aspects.