1st Edition
Marx versus Big Tech Alienated Labour in the Digital Age
Introduction: The great contradiction of our time Part I: A toolmaking animal 1. A materialist anthropology of labour 2. “[C]apitalist society is a vast cemetery for integrity and human capacity”: The contribution of Lukácsian humanist marxism Part II: The metamorphoses of labour in the age of neoliberalism 3. The new neoliberal order and the post-Fordist organisation of labour 4. Labour in the era of platform capitalism Part III: Everyday life 5. Capitalism's assault on free time 6. The self as a commodity Conclusion: Neo-romanticism or critical progressivism
Biography
Stéphanie Roza is a researcher at the CNRS's SND laboratory (Sorbonne University). Initially, her research focused on the "collectivist" utopias of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, from Morelly to Babeuf. She then turned her attention to the legacy of 18th-century France in the communist, socialist, and anarchist left-wing movements of the last two centuries. Her recent publications include: La gauche contre les Lumières? (2020), Lumières de la gauche (2022), Le Marxisme est un humanisme (2024) and Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution (2025).
‘This latest installment by one of the most prominent French thinkers is an exhilarating attempt to rethink Marxist humanism in light of the profound transformations of capitalism. It offers an original reading of neo-liberalism, financialization of the economy, post-Fordist organization of the workplace, alienation and technology. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding which aspects of Marxist thought are still relevant to the meandering complexities of contemporary societies.’
Eva Illouz, Director of Studies at European Center of Sociology and Political Science (CSE-EHESS), Paris, France.
