Toscano, Alberto. 2007. From Pin Factories to Gold Farmers: Editorial Introduction to a Research Stream on Cognitive Capitalism, Immaterial Labour, and the General Intellect. Historical Materialism, 15(1), pp. 3-11. ISSN 1569206X [Article]

No full text available

Abstract or Description

Th is article introduces a series of essays on the related concepts of cognitive capitalism, immaterial
labour and the ‘general intellect’, which will feature in the pages of Historical Materialism from this
issue onwards. It outlines the stakes of the theoretical discussion around these concepts and
welcomes the recasting in Marxian terms of debates which have oft en been monopolised by
apologetic treatments of capitalist development. It also identifies five areas which future articles in
this ‘research stream’ will be preoccupied with: (1) the interpretation of Marxian notions, especially
arising from the Grundrisse; (2) the philosophy of history and the schemata of social change that
underpin concepts such as cognitive capitalism; (3) the identification of hegemonic social figures
(e.g. the immaterial labourer, the ‘cognitariat’); (4) issues of philosophical anthropology bearing on
the definition of knowledge and intellect; (5) the role of debates on value (and its possible crisis) in
assessing the idea of knowledge as a productive force.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1163/156920607X173742
Keywords:	cognitive capitalism, general intellect, immaterial labour, knowledge economy, philosophy of history, post-industrial society, post-Fordism, service economy, workerism
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Sociology
Dates:	Date Event 2007 Published
Item ID:	2230
Date Deposited:	28 May 2009 11:19
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2017 12:50
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/2230

Edit Record (login required)