Abstract

ALZU, Nahuel. Reflections on the crisis of the law of value in the era of cognitive capitalism. A critical look at the legacy of postoperaismo. Trab. soc. [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.39, pp.151-166.  Epub July 01, 2022. ISSN 1514-6871.

At the beginning of the 2000s appeared a philosophical movement strongly influenced by Italian postoperaism or autonomism, dedicated to the study of the ongoing transformations that the prominence of information and communication technologies (ICT) has generated in labor processes and its connection to the shaping of new forms of subjectivity: the theorists of "cognitive capitalism". Among its main developments is the thesis of the “crisis of the law of value”, which claims that the current state of capitalism have made Marx's theory of value obsolete, so its validity is only sustained by the force of mechanisms external to the production process. In this context, this article aims to inquire into the viability of this thesis in contemporary capitalism, by offering a critical analysis of its development through Carlo Vercellone’s work. With that aim I will focus on its connection to Antonio Negri’s formulation, originally published in 1979, and I will address the criticism that several Marxist theorists have counterposed to Vercellone's reformulation. Lastly, I will propose an assessment that evaluates the relevancy of these objections and the consequences that could derive from them.

Keywords : cognitive capitalism; crisis of the law of value; immaterial labor; Marxism; ICT; theory of value.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )