Metaphors of Free Labor : A Typology of Unpaid Work in the Media Sector

• Over the last decade, free labor has emerged as a key analytical tool for understanding new or semi-new forms of labor in the contemporary digital economy. This paper critiques and develops this concept, with specific reference to work in the media industries, by presenting a historically grounded typology of free labor that also highlights some of the analytical problems with the current use of the concept. Our typology presents eight metaphors of free labor based on historical instances of roles people have taken on when performing unpaid labor: those of The Slave, The Carer, The Apprentice, The Prospector, The Hobbyist, The Volunteer, The Agent and The Patsy. A key conclusion is that free labor is performed by different actors at either end of increasingly complex and temporally stretched out value chains. This should motivate, or so we argue, a more fine-grained scholarly use of the concept of free labor.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Free labor

metaphors

typology

work

media

value

Media and Communication Studies

Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)