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制造和服務(wù)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工
在西方很多學(xué)者都聚焦于數(shù)字勞工,但中國對數(shù)字勞工的研究還存在相當(dāng)?shù)目臻g。數(shù)字勞工不僅僅包括傳媒產(chǎn)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工,還應(yīng)該包括制造電子和科技產(chǎn)品的工人,更有網(wǎng)絡(luò)“玩工”。因此,編者將目前西方學(xué)者對于數(shù)字勞工問題研究的最新理論成果成系列出版,稱之為《西方媒介和數(shù)字勞工研究》。這個系列包括四卷內(nèi)容,每卷由中英文導(dǎo)言、中文內(nèi)容介紹以及七至八篇英文論文構(gòu)成。本書為第一卷:制造和服務(wù)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工。
本書彌補(bǔ)了國內(nèi)學(xué)術(shù)界對于數(shù)字勞工研究的不足,成體系地向中國讀者介紹西方最新的數(shù)字勞工研究的最新成果,既適合于傳播政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論教學(xué)的教材,又適合作為新聞學(xué)、社會學(xué)、政治學(xué)本科生和研究生拓展閱讀的教材。
信息技術(shù)正在發(fā)生巨變,數(shù)字世界的下一步革命可能對世界秩序的影響要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于之前的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。這是因為新的技術(shù)帶來了三個強(qiáng)有力且相互聯(lián)系的系統(tǒng):云計算、大數(shù)據(jù)分析和物聯(lián)網(wǎng)(Mosco,2014;Greengard,2015)。它們將數(shù)據(jù)存儲和服務(wù)集中于眾多的數(shù)字化工廠手中,用來處理海量的由網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳感器所收集的信息——這些傳感器可能嵌置于消費(fèi)者、生產(chǎn)部門和辦公室的設(shè)備抑或活著的個體之中。這些改變帶來了大量的挑戰(zhàn),尤其是對勞工來說,而很少有學(xué)者意識到這個問題。這也是為什么這套聚焦于數(shù)字勞工的叢書如此之及時和至關(guān)重要的原因。
技術(shù)對于工作的影響已經(jīng)被討論了很多年,尤其是在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)之后,計算機(jī)科學(xué)家諾伯特·維納提出自動化而導(dǎo)致大量工作機(jī)會流失,引發(fā)了公眾對此議題大規(guī)模的探討(Wiener,1948)。不可否認(rèn)的是,數(shù)字技術(shù)正在創(chuàng)造,并可能持續(xù)創(chuàng)造出就業(yè)的機(jī)會,包括構(gòu)建數(shù)據(jù)中心全球網(wǎng)絡(luò)、數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)中新的領(lǐng)域和對由互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接的物體控制、維持和監(jiān)控過程中的傳統(tǒng)建筑工作,然而,今天新的技術(shù)有多得多的機(jī)會來抵消人類的勞動,尤其是專業(yè)知識勞動。事實上,一位資深的咨詢師將云計算定義為“僅僅是你的信息技術(shù)運(yùn)作過程外包的下一步”(McKendrick,2013)。這與一位高德納研究員簡述的信息技術(shù)的大體趨勢不謀而合,他說道:“信息技術(shù)長遠(yuǎn)的價值屬性并不在于支持人力資源,而是取代它!保―ignan,2011a)數(shù)字技術(shù)正在創(chuàng)造出使得公司即刻就能將其信息技術(shù)運(yùn)行過程合理化的機(jī)會。高德納的研究員再一次強(qiáng)調(diào):“首席信息官相信他們的數(shù)據(jù)中心、服務(wù)器、桌面和商業(yè)應(yīng)用軟件總體上來說是效率低下的,并需要在將來的十年內(nèi)對其不斷調(diào)整,使之合理化。我們相信與這些無效率資產(chǎn)聯(lián)系在一起的工作人員也會隨著這個過程而大規(guī)模地被合理化。”(Dignan,2011a) 依賴于數(shù)字技術(shù)的公司主張:數(shù)字技術(shù)的體系會打破商業(yè)組織模式,而這種打破隨著第一臺大型計算機(jī)進(jìn)入工作場所就開始了。從那以后,所有的商業(yè)和政府機(jī)構(gòu)堅持運(yùn)營它們自己的信息技術(shù)部門,大公司堅持運(yùn)營自己的數(shù)據(jù)中心。現(xiàn)在新體系的支持者認(rèn)為,當(dāng)許多大型的數(shù)據(jù)中心可以以更少的成本和專業(yè)人員來滿足這些需要的時候,建造和運(yùn)行這些數(shù)以千計、每個組織專門的設(shè)備就不再重要。這個過程早已經(jīng)開始,先期的研究表明即使對于信息技術(shù)部門有限地“瘦身”,公司仍可以削減其15%-20%的信息技術(shù)預(yù)算(Howlett,2014)。 新技術(shù)同樣使得對所有知識和創(chuàng)造性勞動普遍的合理化過程成為可能,因為這些職業(yè)的工作不斷地涉及信息的生產(chǎn)、處理和傳播。一位觀察者發(fā)現(xiàn):“在接下來的40年間,分析系統(tǒng)將取代今天知識勞工所從事的大部分工作!保―ignan,2011b)2013年的一份報告指出,當(dāng)今美國幾乎二分之一的勞工正在受到直接失業(yè)的威脅,處于失業(yè)的高風(fēng)險范圍之內(nèi)(Frey and Osbome,2013),盡管機(jī)器和勞工在工作中的具體比例尚未得知,但當(dāng)今借助軟件用機(jī)器系統(tǒng)取代知識勞工工作的趨勢不可抵擋。我們開始看到這些改變對教育、醫(yī)療、法律、會計、金融、銷售和媒體領(lǐng)域的影響。私營和公共部門的組織正在被鼓勵將其核心業(yè)務(wù)過程外的所有業(yè)務(wù)外包給諸如Salesforce.com等公司——它們專門從事管理客戶信息龐大的數(shù)據(jù),這項工作通常由公司內(nèi)市場和客服部門負(fù)責(zé)。 不斷外包給計算機(jī)的工作的增多對彈性生產(chǎn)的整個全球系統(tǒng)帶來了嚴(yán)重的問題。高德納指出:“這一結(jié)果將對所有經(jīng)濟(jì)體產(chǎn)生影響——尤其是像印度這樣的新興經(jīng)濟(jì)體,現(xiàn)在正主導(dǎo)著技術(shù)外包!保―ignan,2011a)新數(shù)字技術(shù)同樣擴(kuò)大了潛在的外包實踐的范圍。這可能是一句大話,但就像《福布斯雜志》指出的那樣,“我們現(xiàn)在都是外包方”,且外包可能的形式不斷多樣化:“外包不再以百萬美元大貿(mào)易為特征,在這些交易中信息技術(shù)部門的運(yùn)作過程交由第三方負(fù)責(zé)。相反,許多小事情的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴漸漸地交由外部的實體負(fù)責(zé)。”(McKendrick,2014)數(shù)字技術(shù)的下一步革命已經(jīng)改變了勞動的過程。
復(fù)旦大學(xué)法學(xué)學(xué)士、復(fù)旦大學(xué)管理學(xué)碩士、加拿大皇后大學(xué)(Queen’s University) 社會學(xué)博士,上海市浦江人才,現(xiàn)任職于復(fù)旦大學(xué)新聞學(xué)院。
主要著作: (英文)Jianhua Yao. 2014. Knowledge Workers in Contemporary China: Reform and Resistance in the Publishing Industry. Lanham: Lexington Books. (中文譯著)《政治的道德基礎(chǔ)》(三聯(lián)書店,2008)、《批判媒介理論》(復(fù)旦大學(xué)出版社,2010)、《美國的公共政策》(復(fù)旦大學(xué)出版社,2010)、《傳播政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)》(譯文出版社,2015) 國家科研項目:國家社科中華外譯項目:《當(dāng)代中國出版改革中的知識勞工》(項目編號 14wxw001, 資助金額 30萬)
導(dǎo)言
第一章 數(shù)字勞工:階級、數(shù)字鴻溝與性別 1.?dāng)?shù)字時代的階級基礎(chǔ):生活、勞動和價值 2.?dāng)?shù)字鴻溝下的勞動 3.性別化的未來?女性、信息和通信技術(shù)工廠與未來的故事 第二章 制造業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工 4.作為信息時代黑暗面的富士康勞工:中國蘋果合同制造商企業(yè)中的工作環(huán)境 5.“光明和移動的未來”:蘋果和谷歌移動應(yīng)用程序開發(fā)者研究 第三章 服務(wù)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工 6.地下潛流:傳播資本主義與呼叫中心勞工 7.印度信息技術(shù)和信息技術(shù)化服務(wù)業(yè)中工會和勞工組織的前景
The National Telecommunication and Information Administration's (NTIA) first investigation of the digital divide constructs a hard technologically determinist logic that views information technology as a social motor and, more specifically, as a means to attain wealth (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995). The NTIA bases its study of 'information haves' and 'have-nots' on the assumption that the USA has become 'a society where individuals' economic and social well being increasingly depend[s] on their ability to access, accumulate, and assimilate information' and that 'while a standard telephone line can be an individual's pathway to the riches of the Information Age, a personal computer and modem are rapidly becoming the keys to the vault' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995).[5 ] Accessing information technologies, in other words,unlocks the new economy's coffers.
From this hard determinist view of computer technologies as vehicles for social mobility, the NTIA fashions a new demographic category of oppressed individuals, 'the information disadvantaged', whom the report seeks to 'empower'. Policy interventions, NTIA asserts, require 'identifying those who are truly in need [so that] policy makers can prudently and efficiently target support to these information disadvantaged ...' The notion of information havenots is innovative for serving as a euphemistic synecdoche for what causes and constitutes poverty. While filtering out questions of race, class, and gender as explanations for economic disadvantage, 'information disadvantaged' constructs lack of access to information technology as a deficit in social resources.Expanding diffusion of telecommunication media, then, promises to eliminate such disparity. However, boosting computer consumption not equality is the telos of NTIA's study.[6] Therefore, whatever connection to a civil rights movement the study means to invoke by calling for empowerment of 'the information disadvantaged' collapses when we recognize that consumption serves as the criterion for judging equality. Such vocabulary, moreover, serves marketing ends rather than the public interest. As the 'new economy' wore on and its outlook brightened, the NTIA maintained its hard dividist position by crediting computer technology with creating wealth. According to the NTIA's 1999 report: 'The Internet is a nascent, rapidly diffusing technology that promises to become the economic underpinning for all successful countries in the new global economy' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1999). Under George W. Bush, the NTIA again underscores information technologies' contribution to economic growth: 'The expanding use of new technologies continues to strengthen our economy ...As [new electronic] connections open new economic opportunities for more Americans, it is important that all segments of our Nation are included in this ongoing information revolution' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002). Despite the onset of a national recession in 2001 and a 'jobless recovery' the following year, extending intemet access promises prosperity on a global and individual level. Like the NTIA studies, academic analyses of the first wave of digital divide research assume a hard technologically determinist view that information technologies enable economic advancement. One widely referenced study, Hoffman et al.'s (2001) 'The Evolution of the Digital Divide: Examining the Relationship of Race to Intemet Access and Usage over Time', operationalizes the digital divide as the extent to which individuals access and use the intemet.[7] Hoffman et al. analyze the 'evolution' ofintemet access and use among African Americans, whites, and Hispanics in the USA from 1997 to 1998 and further break down use pattems according to income, gender, student status, level of education, presence of children in the home, and home computer ownership. Operationalizing the digital divide in this way evinces a hard technological determinism, as it implies an overarching concem with the physical presence of computers, net connections, and the frequency of access to such technologies. Furthermore, the authors suggest that technological access brings economic and political rewards: 'the Intemet may provide for equal economic opportunity and democratic communication, but only for those with access' (2001: 50). Hoffman et al. intend their study to 'stimulate discussion among scholars and policy makers interested in how differences in Internet access and use among different segments in our society [affect] their ability to participate and reap the rewards of that participation in the emerging digital economy' (p. 50). Closing the gap in access and use between whites and African Americans requires support for community, school, and other public access terminals, content that entices African Americans, and policy changes that encourage cable and satellite internet delivery, because African Americans' consumption of cable and satellite services is increasing. Since internet access and use are correlated with education, the authors also advise: 'To ensure the participation of all Americans in the information revolution, it is critical to improve the educational opportunities for African Americans' (p. 94). Education, in other words, is a vehicle for, rather than an effect of, more widely diffusing internet technology. ……
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