Cyber-proletariat and Cyber-bourgeoisie: A Foucauldian Investigation of the Cyber-workplace.
The advent of the internet has spawned a burgeoning cyber-proletariat, with armies of online workers, dispersed globally, collaborating in the development of online products and services. In the wake of the success of the Call Centre phenomenon, global corporations were quick to avail themselves of...
| Publicado en: | International Journal of the Humanities Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 29 - 37 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Common Ground Research Networks
Oct2007
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=28808676&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 28808676 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 15IH jtl: International Journal of the Humanities maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2007 vid: 5 iid: 2 pid: 22359 pub: Common Ground Research Networks artinfo: ui: 28808676 10.18848/1447-9508/CGP/v05i02/43484 ppf: 29 ppct: 8 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 340KB tig: atl: Cyber-proletariat and Cyber-bourgeoisie: A Foucauldian Investigation of the Cyber-workplace. aug: au: Walberg, Serge affil: Edith Cowan University, WA, Australia su: Proletariat Working class Middle class Call centers Customer services Business process outsourcing Contracting out International business enterprises sug: subj: Proletariat Working class Middle class Call centers Customer services Business process outsourcing Contracting out International business enterprises keyword: Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Call Centre Cyber Workplace Cyber-bourgeoisie Cyber-proletariat Electronic Democracy Foucauld Live-in Diaspora Online Development ab: The advent of the internet has spawned a burgeoning cyber-proletariat, with armies of online workers, dispersed globally, collaborating in the development of online products and services. In the wake of the success of the Call Centre phenomenon, global corporations were quick to avail themselves of cheap (yet highly skilled) low-level computing practitioners in developing countries, handling millions of online operations daily, yet receiving much lower wages than their western counterparts. This work investigates the cyber-workplace and its populations, the interactions between cyberworkers and non-working internet surfers, the new phenomenon of tele-commuting, and the effects on electronic democracy of the appearance of a "cyber-lumpen-proletariat". The emergence of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) allows global corporations to outsource a huge volume of low-level computing (mostly updating of client databases for banks, insurance companies and health-care institutions) to developing countries (primarily India and the Philippines) where labour costs are considerably lower than in western countries, and where workers are often less protected (sometimes not protected) by legislation or trade unions. This in effect creates a "live-in diaspora" of cyberworkers who are working abroad but living at home. As with the industrial revolution which produced a proletariat and a lumpen-proletariat, this cyber-revolution has created a cyber-proletariat populating cyber-sweatshops and even a cyber-lumpen-proletariat, or a reserve pool of unemployed cyber-workers. This paper will use a Foucauldian perspective to investigate concepts of electronic democracy applied to cyberspace as a new global working environment. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of International Journal of the Humanities is the property of Common Ground Research Networks and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: International Journal of the Humanities holder: Common Ground Research Networks dt: @attributes: year: 2007 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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