Digital Labor: The New Labour of Digital Capitalism

Abstract

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has greatly changed the capitalist mode of production and accumulation. New technologies represented by cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things have reconfigured various factors of production and resources. In the transition to digital capitalism, more and more digital workers have emerged. A large number of workers engaged in information production, dissemination and monitoring use digital technology as production and processing tools. (Sandoval 2015) defines digital labor as: mental workers and manual workers who take ICTs and digital technology as means of production, including producers and users.[1] She points out that capital’s embrace of ICTs and digital technology has accelerated the shift of capitalism’s main accumulation space from a “factory floor” to a “social factory” dominated by metropolitan office buildings.