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CALL FOR PAPERS: (January 2006)

'Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organisation' (www.ephemeraweb.org)

Forthcoming edition (January 2007):

 

“Affective and Immaterial Labour Explored” (working title)

Edited by Ben Trott, Emma Dowling and Rodrigo Nunes

That Capitalism has undergone a series of transformations over the past
few decades, and that these transformations have been expressed – at
least in part – in terms of a number of qualitative changes in the
nature, form and organisation of labour is now commonly accepted as
fact. That these developments have in turn had a re-configurative effect
on the political organisation of workers and their resistance is also
now widely recognised. The precise extent, nature and implication of
these mutations, however, are far more widely contested. It is within
the literature addressing precisely these issues that concepts such as
'immaterial' and 'affective' labour are gradually becoming the object of
debates with consequences that are far more than simply academic.

Whilst the work of authors belonging to the Italian tradition of
(post-)/operaismo/ (or 'workerism') – and, of course, Michael Hardt and
Antonio Negri's / Empire/ in particular – has been the source of
increasing debate within the social sciences over the past few years,
these debates have, until very recently, focused on the propositions as
to a shift in sovereignty from the nation-state to Empire, the supposed
'end of imperialism', and the emergence of the multitude as the
revolutionary subject of the post-Fordist era. The claim made by a
number of theorists belonging to this tradition as to the emergence of
new forms of labour, their nature, and the means by which they are
understood as exerting their hegemony have received, within
English-language discussions at least, relatively little attention.

Further to this, much important work has been carried out within other
disciplines, an example amongst others being Labour Process Theory,
where the concept and realities of 'emotional labour' have been
explored. Our aim with this journal is to provide a space for a real
interdisciplinary engagement with the issues of immaterial/affective
labour to both broaden and deepen the debate and enable connections
between different approaches.

Within the discourse which surrounds the changing form and conditions of
labour, the concept of 'affective' labour (that is, labour which
involves the production of affects such as ease, well-being,
satisfaction, pleasure and so on) has been the most under-explored of
all. It is by attempting a re-reading of the debates around the
transformations taking place within the capitalist mode of production –
and throughout the global political economy – from the perspective of
affective labour that we hope this journal edition will contribute to
the ongoing effort to chart the diagram of our present condition.

As the editors of this journal issue, it is our basic hypothesis that
within the existing literature, the concepts of both immaterial and
affective labour are deployed as abstractions of the various singular
forms of labour subsumed within these categories. The end effect of this
is that whilst the concepts succeed, to a certain extent, in describing
real and existing tendencies, particular forms of immaterial/affective
labour have ended up being taken as the /de facto /'advanced' forms of
all the others to the extent that their particular characteristics
become imposed upon the rest. Important differences between the various
singular forms of labour internal to these concepts have become obscured
in the process.

The categories of both immaterial and affective labour describe a range
of workplace realities and labour relations from media workers, computer
programmers and academic researchers to call centre operators, flight
attendants and McDonald's employees. Whilst inviting debate of the above
hypothesis, the aim of this edition of Ephemera is to attempt a far more
rigorous investigation into the material conditions of the various and
singular forms of labour purported to occupy an increasingly privileged
position within the contemporary global political economy than has been
attempted until now. We hope that such investigations will allow for a
(re-)evaluation of the existing conceptual framework and contribute to
our collective ability to identify the lines of fracture that make
resistance possible today.

To this end, we are particularly interested in papers which address the
following topics:

**The Material Conditions of Immaterial Labour*

Explorations and empirical inquiries into new and emerging forms of
labour, particularly those understood as possessing an 'affective'
quality. Also welcome are efforts to explore the areas in which
immaterial and affective labour overlaps with 'precarious' (insecure and
casualised) forms of work.

**Value, Exploitation and Measure*

Discussion of the claim made by a number of theorists, and Hardt and
Negri most prominently, that new and emerging productive practices have
serious implications for social theory in terms of the means by which we
can understand both value production and surplus extraction as taking
place within the labour process today. Of particular interest is the
claim that value today is 'beyond measure'.

**Movement, Struggle and Political Praxis*

Attempts to assess the problems and possibilities for movements and
struggles brought about by:

(i) The restructuring of productive processes, and

(ii) The emergence of new forms of subjectivity as an ever-increasing
proportion of social life becomes rendered directly productive.

(iii) We are also interested in asking the question of how, if at all,
these new analytical frameworks have been taken up in political
practices – to what effect, with what advantages and limitations.

**'Hegemony' and the 'Historical Tendency'*

Concepts such as 'hegemony' and the 'historical tendency' have been
variously deployed to describe the means by which one form of production
exerts its influence over others, and indeed over social life itself,
transforming it and remaking it in its own image. How can the
characterisation of this 'hegemony' be made, and what are its
implications? How useful are these concepts as descriptive, analytic and
methodological tools? What are their limitations?

** Ethnographies, Empirical Studies and* * Workers' Inquiries*

Empirical studies and ethnographies have featured far less prominently
than 'theoretical' or philosophical discussions in the literature
surrounding the changing nature of work today, leading to a number of
recent calls for a return to so-called workers' inquiries. The editorial
collective welcome such contributions, along with reflections on issues
such as the current (or previous) limitations of workers' inquiries; the
researcher's position within empirical work; and the problems with
methods used to study immaterial/affective labour.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive and we welcome proposals for
papers across /all disciplines / dealing with other aspects of
immaterial and affective labour and the emergence of new subjectivities.

Practical Information

To propose a contribution, please send an abstract (500 words) to the
editors by March 1st 2007. All proposals will be responded to by early
April 2006. Final drafts of articles (5,000-8,000 words) should be
completed by September 15th 2006 and the journal will be made
available online under the Creative Commons Licence
(www.creativecommons.org ) at www.ephemeraweb.org by mid-January 2007.

Communication, collaboration and cooperation between authors is
encouraged and to this end we intend, with your permission, to circulate
the abstracts for the articles selected for publication amongst all of
the contributors and to create an online space in which authors are
able, if they so choose, to interact with one another in 'real-time'
discussions despite any physical distance between them.

Please send your abstracts to one or all of the editors. Do not hesitate
to contact us with questions or comments. We look forward to hearing
from you.

Ben Trott: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

Emma Dowling: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

Rodrigo Nunes: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>