1st Edition

Hacking Capitalism The Free and Open Source Software Movement

By Johan Söderberg Copyright 2008
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement demonstrates how labour can self-organise production, and, as is shown by the free operating system GNU/Linux, even compete with some of the worlds largest firms. The book examines the hopes of such thinkers as Friedrich Schiller, Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse and Antonio Negri, in the light of the recent achievements of the hacker movement. This book is the first to examine a different kind of political activism that consists in the development of technology from below.

    Acknowledgments

    Chapter 1: Hackers

    Chapter 2: Post-Fordist Capitalism

    Chapter 3: The Commodification of Information

    Chapter 4: Consumption-Production of Sign Values

    Chapter 5: Immaterial Labour

    Chapter 6: World Markets and Global Gift

    Chapter 7: Play Struggle

    Notes

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Johan Söderberg was educated at the Falmouth College of Arts in England and holds a degree in Science and Technology Policy from Lund University, Sweden.

    "...an excellent resource for those interested in Marxist studies, labor history, the FOSS movement, and current trends in computing... Recommended."

    - P. L. Kantor, University of Advancing Technology, Choice