在西方很多學(xué)者都聚焦于數(shù)字勞工,但中國(guó)對(duì)數(shù)字勞工的研究還存在相當(dāng)?shù)目臻g。數(shù)字勞工不僅僅包括傳媒產(chǎn)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工,還應(yīng)該包括制造電子和科技產(chǎn)品的工人,更有網(wǎng)絡(luò)“玩工”。因此,編者將目前西方學(xué)者對(duì)于數(shù)字勞工問(wèn)題研究的最新理論成果成系列出版,稱(chēng)之為《西方媒介和數(shù)字勞工研究》。這個(gè)系列包括四卷內(nèi)容,每卷由中英文導(dǎo)言、中文內(nèi)容介紹以及七至八篇英文論文構(gòu)成。本書(shū)為第一卷:制造和服務(wù)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工。
本書(shū)彌補(bǔ)了國(guó)內(nèi)學(xué)術(shù)界對(duì)于數(shù)字勞工研究的不足,成體系地向中國(guó)讀者介紹西方最新的數(shù)字勞工研究的最新成果,既適合于傳播政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論教學(xué)的教材,又適合作為新聞學(xué)、社會(huì)學(xué)、政治學(xué)本科生和研究生拓展閱讀的教材。
信息技術(shù)正在發(fā)生巨變,數(shù)字世界的下一步革命可能對(duì)世界秩序的影響要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于之前的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。這是因?yàn)樾碌募夹g(shù)帶來(lái)了三個(gè)強(qiáng)有力且相互聯(lián)系的系統(tǒng):云計(jì)算、大數(shù)據(jù)分析和物聯(lián)網(wǎng)(Mosco,2014;Greengard,2015)。它們將數(shù)據(jù)存儲(chǔ)和服務(wù)集中于眾多的數(shù)字化工廠(chǎng)手中,用來(lái)處理海量的由網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳感器所收集的信息——這些傳感器可能嵌置于消費(fèi)者、生產(chǎn)部門(mén)和辦公室的設(shè)備抑或活著的個(gè)體之中。這些改變帶來(lái)了大量的挑戰(zhàn),尤其是對(duì)勞工來(lái)說(shuō),而很少有學(xué)者意識(shí)到這個(gè)問(wèn)題。這也是為什么這套聚焦于數(shù)字勞工的叢書(shū)如此之及時(shí)和至關(guān)重要的原因。
技術(shù)對(duì)于工作的影響已經(jīng)被討論了很多年,尤其是在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)之后,計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)家諾伯特·維納提出自動(dòng)化而導(dǎo)致大量工作機(jī)會(huì)流失,引發(fā)了公眾對(duì)此議題大規(guī)模的探討(Wiener,1948)。不可否認(rèn)的是,數(shù)字技術(shù)正在創(chuàng)造,并可能持續(xù)創(chuàng)造出就業(yè)的機(jī)會(huì),包括構(gòu)建數(shù)據(jù)中心全球網(wǎng)絡(luò)、數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)中新的領(lǐng)域和對(duì)由互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接的物體控制、維持和監(jiān)控過(guò)程中的傳統(tǒng)建筑工作,然而,今天新的技術(shù)有多得多的機(jī)會(huì)來(lái)抵消人類(lèi)的勞動(dòng),尤其是專(zhuān)業(yè)知識(shí)勞動(dòng)。事實(shí)上,一位資深的咨詢(xún)師將云計(jì)算定義為“僅僅是你的信息技術(shù)運(yùn)作過(guò)程外包的下一步”(McKendrick,2013)。這與一位高德納研究員簡(jiǎn)述的信息技術(shù)的大體趨勢(shì)不謀而合,他說(shuō)道:“信息技術(shù)長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的價(jià)值屬性并不在于支持人力資源,而是取代它。”(Dignan,2011a)數(shù)字技術(shù)正在創(chuàng)造出使得公司即刻就能將其信息技術(shù)運(yùn)行過(guò)程合理化的機(jī)會(huì)。高德納的研究員再一次強(qiáng)調(diào):“首席信息官相信他們的數(shù)據(jù)中心、服務(wù)器、桌面和商業(yè)應(yīng)用軟件總體上來(lái)說(shuō)是效率低下的,并需要在將來(lái)的十年內(nèi)對(duì)其不斷調(diào)整,使之合理化。我們相信與這些無(wú)效率資產(chǎn)聯(lián)系在一起的工作人員也會(huì)隨著這個(gè)過(guò)程而大規(guī)模地被合理化!保―ignan,2011a)
依賴(lài)于數(shù)字技術(shù)的公司主張:數(shù)字技術(shù)的體系會(huì)打破商業(yè)組織模式,而這種打破隨著第一臺(tái)大型計(jì)算機(jī)進(jìn)入工作場(chǎng)所就開(kāi)始了。從那以后,所有的商業(yè)和政府機(jī)構(gòu)堅(jiān)持運(yùn)營(yíng)它們自己的信息技術(shù)部門(mén),大公司堅(jiān)持運(yùn)營(yíng)自己的數(shù)據(jù)中心,F(xiàn)在新體系的支持者認(rèn)為,當(dāng)許多大型的數(shù)據(jù)中心可以以更少的成本和專(zhuān)業(yè)人員來(lái)滿(mǎn)足這些需要的時(shí)候,建造和運(yùn)行這些數(shù)以千計(jì)、每個(gè)組織專(zhuān)門(mén)的設(shè)備就不再重要。這個(gè)過(guò)程早已經(jīng)開(kāi)始,先期的研究表明即使對(duì)于信息技術(shù)部門(mén)有限地“瘦身”,公司仍可以削減其15%-20%的信息技術(shù)預(yù)算(Howlett,2014)。
新技術(shù)同樣使得對(duì)所有知識(shí)和創(chuàng)造性勞動(dòng)普遍的合理化過(guò)程成為可能,因?yàn)檫@些職業(yè)的工作不斷地涉及信息的生產(chǎn)、處理和傳播。一位觀(guān)察者發(fā)現(xiàn):“在接下來(lái)的40年間,分析系統(tǒng)將取代今天知識(shí)勞工所從事的大部分工作!保―ignan,2011b)2013年的一份報(bào)告指出,當(dāng)今美國(guó)幾乎二分之一的勞工正在受到直接失業(yè)的威脅,處于失業(yè)的高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)范圍之內(nèi)(Frey and Osbome,2013),盡管機(jī)器和勞工在工作中的具體比例尚未得知,但當(dāng)今借助軟件用機(jī)器系統(tǒng)取代知識(shí)勞工工作的趨勢(shì)不可抵擋。我們開(kāi)始看到這些改變對(duì)教育、醫(yī)療、法律、會(huì)計(jì)、金融、銷(xiāo)售和媒體領(lǐng)域的影響。私營(yíng)和公共部門(mén)的組織正在被鼓勵(lì)將其核心業(yè)務(wù)過(guò)程外的所有業(yè)務(wù)外包給諸如Salesforce.com等公司——它們專(zhuān)門(mén)從事管理客戶(hù)信息龐大的數(shù)據(jù),這項(xiàng)工作通常由公司內(nèi)市場(chǎng)和客服部門(mén)負(fù)責(zé)。
不斷外包給計(jì)算機(jī)的工作的增多對(duì)彈性生產(chǎn)的整個(gè)全球系統(tǒng)帶來(lái)了嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題。高德納指出:“這一結(jié)果將對(duì)所有經(jīng)濟(jì)體產(chǎn)生影響——尤其是像印度這樣的新興經(jīng)濟(jì)體,現(xiàn)在正主導(dǎo)著技術(shù)外包。”(Dignan,2011a)新數(shù)字技術(shù)同樣擴(kuò)大了潛在的外包實(shí)踐的范圍。這可能是一句大話(huà),但就像《福布斯雜志》指出的那樣,“我們現(xiàn)在都是外包方”,且外包可能的形式不斷多樣化:“外包不再以百萬(wàn)美元大貿(mào)易為特征,在這些交易中信息技術(shù)部門(mén)的運(yùn)作過(guò)程交由第三方負(fù)責(zé)。相反,許多小事情的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴漸漸地交由外部的實(shí)體負(fù)責(zé)。”(McKendrick,2014)數(shù)字技術(shù)的下一步革命已經(jīng)改變了勞動(dòng)的過(guò)程。
復(fù)旦大學(xué)法學(xué)學(xué)士、復(fù)旦大學(xué)管理學(xué)碩士、加拿大皇后大學(xué)(Queen’s University) 社會(huì)學(xué)博士,上海市浦江人才,現(xiàn)任職于復(fù)旦大學(xué)新聞學(xué)院。
主要著作:
(英文)Jianhua Yao. 2014. Knowledge Workers in Contemporary China: Reform and
Resistance in the Publishing Industry. Lanham: Lexington Books.
(中文譯著)《政治的道德基礎(chǔ)》(三聯(lián)書(shū)店,2008)、《批判媒介理論》(復(fù)旦大學(xué)出版社,2010)、《美國(guó)的公共政策》(復(fù)旦大學(xué)出版社,2010)、《傳播政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)》(譯文出版社,2015)
國(guó)家科研項(xiàng)目:國(guó)家社科中華外譯項(xiàng)目:《當(dāng)代中國(guó)出版改革中的知識(shí)勞工》(項(xiàng)目編號(hào)
14wxw001, 資助金額 30萬(wàn))
導(dǎo)言
第一章 數(shù)字勞工:階級(jí)、數(shù)字鴻溝與性別
1.?dāng)?shù)字時(shí)代的階級(jí)基礎(chǔ):生活、勞動(dòng)和價(jià)值
2.?dāng)?shù)字鴻溝下的勞動(dòng)
3.性別化的未來(lái)?女性、信息和通信技術(shù)工廠(chǎng)與未來(lái)的故事
第二章 制造業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工
4.作為信息時(shí)代黑暗面的富士康勞工:中國(guó)蘋(píng)果合同制造商企業(yè)中的工作環(huán)境
5.“光明和移動(dòng)的未來(lái)”:蘋(píng)果和谷歌移動(dòng)應(yīng)用程序開(kāi)發(fā)者研究
第三章 服務(wù)業(yè)中的數(shù)字勞工
6.地下潛流:傳播資本主義與呼叫中心勞工
7.印度信息技術(shù)和信息技術(shù)化服務(wù)業(yè)中工會(huì)和勞工組織的前景
The National Telecommunication and Information Administration's (NTIA) first investigation of the digital divide constructs a hard technologically determinist logic that views information technology as a social motor and, more specifically, as a means to attain wealth (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995). The NTIA bases its study of 'information haves' and 'have-nots' on the assumption that the USA has become 'a society where individuals' economic and social well being increasingly depend[s] on their ability to access, accumulate, and assimilate information' and that 'while a standard telephone line can be an individual's pathway to the riches of the Information Age, a personal computer and modem are rapidly becoming the keys to the vault' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1995).[5 ] Accessing information technologies, in other words,unlocks the new economy's coffers.
From this hard determinist view of computer technologies as vehicles for social mobility, the NTIA fashions a new demographic category of oppressed individuals, 'the information disadvantaged', whom the report seeks to 'empower'. Policy interventions, NTIA asserts, require 'identifying those who are truly in need [so that] policy makers can prudently and efficiently target support to these information disadvantaged ...' The notion of information havenots is innovative for serving as a euphemistic synecdoche for what causes and constitutes poverty. While filtering out questions of race, class, and gender as explanations for economic disadvantage, 'information disadvantaged' constructs lack of access to information technology as a deficit in social resources.Expanding diffusion of telecommunication media, then, promises to eliminate such disparity. However, boosting computer consumption not equality is the telos of NTIA's study.[6] Therefore, whatever connection to a civil rights movement the study means to invoke by calling for empowerment of 'the information disadvantaged' collapses when we recognize that consumption serves as the criterion for judging equality. Such vocabulary, moreover, serves marketing ends rather than the public interest.
As the 'new economy' wore on and its outlook brightened, the NTIA maintained its hard dividist position by crediting computer technology with creating wealth. According to the NTIA's 1999 report: 'The Internet is a nascent, rapidly diffusing technology that promises to become the economic underpinning for all successful countries in the new global economy' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1999). Under George W. Bush, the NTIA again underscores information technologies' contribution to economic growth: 'The expanding use of new technologies continues to strengthen our economy ...As [new electronic] connections open new economic opportunities for more Americans, it is important that all segments of our Nation are included in this ongoing information revolution' (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002). Despite the onset of a national recession in 2001 and a 'jobless recovery' the following year, extending intemet access promises prosperity on a global and individual level.
Like the NTIA studies, academic analyses of the first wave of digital divide research assume a hard technologically determinist view that information technologies enable economic advancement. One widely referenced study, Hoffman et al.'s (2001) 'The Evolution of the Digital Divide: Examining the Relationship of Race to Intemet Access and Usage over Time', operationalizes the digital divide as the extent to which individuals access and use the intemet.[7]
Hoffman et al. analyze the 'evolution' ofintemet access and use among African Americans, whites, and Hispanics in the USA from 1997 to 1998 and further break down use pattems according to income, gender, student status, level of education, presence of children in the home, and home computer ownership. Operationalizing the digital divide in this way evinces a hard technological determinism, as it implies an overarching concem with the physical presence of computers, net connections, and the frequency of access to such technologies.
Furthermore, the authors suggest that technological access brings economic and political rewards: 'the Intemet may provide for equal economic opportunity and democratic communication, but only for those with access' (2001: 50). Hoffman et al. intend their study to 'stimulate discussion among scholars and policy makers interested in how differences in Internet access and use among different segments in our society [affect] their ability to participate and reap the rewards of that participation in the emerging digital economy' (p. 50). Closing the gap in access and use between whites and African Americans requires support for community, school, and other public access terminals, content that entices African Americans, and policy changes that encourage cable and satellite internet delivery, because African Americans' consumption of cable and satellite services is increasing. Since internet access and use are correlated with education, the authors also advise: 'To ensure the participation of all Americans in the information revolution, it is critical to improve the educational opportunities for African Americans' (p. 94). Education, in other words, is a vehicle for, rather than an effect of, more widely diffusing internet technology.
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