Information and the Capitalist Mode of Production. According to Braverman the essence of the capitalist mode of production is its transformation of working humanity into an instrument of capital, a transformation achieved by the separation, within each labor process, of conception from execution. This separation has always characterized the capitalist mode of production and, with the advent of "Taylorism" or "Scientific Management" after 1890, was itself conceptualized and verbalized as a theory of management. Braverman describes the theory of "Scientific Management":
. . .the first principle (of Scientific Management) is the gathering and development of knowledge of labor processes(;) the second is the concentration of this knowledge as the exclusive province of management à ‚¬" together with its essential converse, the absence of such knowledge among workers à ‚¬" (;) the third is the use of this monopoly over knowledge to control each step of the labor process and its mode of execution.
"Scientific Management" is predicated on
differences in knowledge about labor processes à ‚¬" information
differentials. To the extent industries
are managed "scientifically," the role of unemployment in the disciplining
of the labor force is subordinated to that of "Scientific
Management." And the scale and
intensity of the exploitation of labor is increasingly determined by how
effectively management monopolizes its "knowledge to control each step of
the labor process and its mode of execution." (footnote 1)
Information and the Redistribution of Capitalist Profits. The magnitude of the exploitation of labor under capitalism determines the initial distribution of capitalist profits. Under free market capitalism à ‚¬" still the predominant form of capitalism à ‚¬" this initial distribution is only temporary, however, because the dynamics of the accumulation process compel corporations intending to augment profits to invest the fruits of exploitation, most significantly in the financial markets and in technology. (2) And according to how successfully they are reinvested, corporate profits are redistributed. But how successfully corporate profits are reinvested in the financial markets and in technology, under free market capitalism, is a function of information differentials.
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