Book Review: Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media by Christian Fuchs

Abstract

Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media. Christian Fuchs. New York. Routledge, 2015. 418 pp. $52.95 pbk.Christian Fuchs is a professor of social media at the University of Westminster. His penultimate chapter in this massive volume is an extended version of his inaugural lecture given at Westminster a year after he joined the faculty in 2013. I suspect, however, that many in the audience already had a pretty good idea what was in store for them, as professor Fuchs's scholarly output in the area of critical cultural studies, political economy, and Marxist social theory has become widely available over the years.As he makes clear in the book's dedication, he seeks to facilitate the unification of political economy with cultural studies under the banner of Marxist Media, Communication, and Cultural Studies. Given some of the history of relations between these two strands of critical theory and research, it would seem that he has set out quite a challenging goal. At the same time, I do not hesitate to suggest that this book will provide a good strong push along the path to the future he has in mind.After a brief introduction, Fuchs begins appropriately with two chapters dedicated to the task of preparing a critical theoretical foundation. The first chapter, co-authored by Marisol Sandoval, helps to establish a basis for understanding the multidimensional relationships between culture and The anchoring role that will be played by Raymond William's cultural materialism is established early. Distinctions between cultural work and cultural labor are finely drawn and serve well to support the development of later insights into the nature of digital labor within the context of social media.The next chapter begins that discussion by exploring the various theoretical challenges involved in understanding communication as a form of work. The contributions from within sociology, cultural studies, and political economy are presented through examples of claims, arguments, and graphic representations of key relationships. In this, as in most chapters of the book, serious readers will be drawn-if not compelled-to underline and add marginal notes reflecting points of agreement, as well as points about which you strongly and firmly disagree. Perhaps you would be advised to add your notes gently in pencil, so that you can go back and revise your thinking in response to some of the insights that will arrive with some force as you read on.The two chapters in the next section bring readers into some of the contemporary debates about the nature of work and labor within the context of social media. The first of these chapters is concerned with establishing the boundaries around what we understand as time, especially in the context of capitalism and relations of power. Concerns about time and the productivity of labor play a central role in Fuchs's opening foray into ongoing debates about the nature of the work that audiences do in the context of social media. It is here that we are provided with some of Fuchs's insights into the emergent duality of prosumers, where audiences are often (and in some sense always) both consumers and producers of commodities. …