Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
indicated here, the dynamic can apply to mental labor as an independent
activity, not simply an adjunct to control the physical environment. The
social division of labor (for instance, between master and slave, or intel-
lectual and clerical labor) can anticipate the division of labor between
human labor and machine process.
We can distinguish different types of labor, adopting Marx's distinction
of universal and communal labor and applying it to informational labor,
processes, and products.
We must distinguish here, incidentally, between universal labour and communal
labour. They both play their part in the production process, and merge into one
another, but they are each different as well. Universal labour is all scientific work,
all discovery and invention. It is brought about partly by the cooperation of men
now living, but partly also by building on earlier work. Communal labour, how-
ever, simply involves the direct cooperation of individuals. (1894/1981, 199)
As they merge into each other, universal and communal labor are not
encountered in pure form and can be embodied in the products of labor,
but their distribution can vary significantly. Communal labor should also
be understood to include individual labor. In this context, we can regard
r
the machine aspects of information technology primarily as products
of universal labor, although constructed, activated, and renewed by com-
munal labor;
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the design and writing of programs as communal labor developed from
universal labor and its products, such as understandings of the algorith-
mic process and programming languages; and
r
human description of information objects as primarily involving com-
munal labor, guided by universal labor and embodied in codes for descrip-
tion.
Communal labor has immediate costs—possibly matched by a wage—
in required human energy; in contrast, the costs of universal labor
have been absorbed over time. As formulated by Marx, the distinction
between communal labor and universal labor, involves mental labor—
“Universal labour is all scientific work, all discovery and invention”
(Marx 1894/1981, 199)—and also can be applied directly to the modern
manifestations of mental labor and its products.
Labor, process, and product can be distinguished explicitly—process
and product separated from an originally undifferentiated labor. For
