The Digital Factory: The Human Labor of Automation

The Digital Factory explores the hidden human labor that supports today's digital capitalism, including workers in Amazon warehouses, delivery drivers, Chinese gaming workers, Filipino content moderators, and rural American search engine optimizers. This work is often hidden behind the supposed magic of algorithms and thought to be automated, but it is highly dependent on human labor. Moritz Altenried's book reveals that these digital factories take different forms, such as gig economy platforms, video games, and Amazon warehouses, and often share surprising similarities with factories from the industrial age.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 05 January 2022
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

The Digital Factory uncovers the unseen human labor that underpins today's digital capitalism. The workforce in today's digital factory encompasses individuals working in Amazon warehouses, delivery drivers, Chinese gaming industries, Filipino content moderators, and rural American search engine optimizers. These jobs, characterized by repetitive and often stressful tasks, can be both boring and emotionally demanding, yet they typically require minimal formal qualifications. However, they demand a significant amount of skills and knowledge. It is important to note that this work, often perceived as automated and reliant on algorithms, is in fact highly dependent on human labor.

The workers in today's digital factories are not as dissimilar from those in traditional auto assembly lines as one might assume. Moritz Altenried takes us on a journey inside these digital factories, revealing their diverse forms, including gig economy platforms, video games, and Amazon warehouses. As Altenried demonstrates, these digital factories often exhibit surprising similarities with factories from the industrial age.

In the context of globalized capitalism and the ongoing integration of digital technology, Altenried's exploration of these changes is both timely and poignant. It sheds light on how these transformations are reshaping the social division of labor, as well as the geographical distribution of work and the stratifications and lines of struggle that emerge. The Digital Factory serves as a valuable contribution to our understanding of the evolving nature of work and its impact on society.

Weight: 286g
Dimension: 140 x 216 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226815480