The Laboring Eye: A Marxist Analysis of Social Media

• In Event: The Business of Sharing Personal Communication: Industrial Practices of Social Media

Abstract

The adoption of new digital technologies along with the rise in Internet usage has transformed the way people around the world communicate with other persons. Globally, more time spent online is increasingly devoted to social networking websites. As communication technologies represent new horizons for commercial profitability, the expansion of online social media usage actually serves to widen the economic gap between network owners and users. In an ever-expanding digital environment, particularly one characterized by its numerous, socially-integrative technologies, it becomes necessary to understand the enduring nature of economic inequalities as it relates to the technological culture. For that reason, this paper takes a Marxist approach to reveal how social media use exacerbates the problems of exploitation, alienation, and monopolization that are inherent to capitalist, economic systems.

Author

• Ashley C Moore, Colorado State U