An Analysis of Marx’s Legacy in the Field of Communication Studies

Abstract

New communication technologies strengthen existing power relations, helping to maintain class inequalities and alienating people. In the new communication age, human subjectivity itself has become a commodity. This paper analyses the role of Marxist studies in the academic field of communication studies. It focuses on the relevance of Marx's views for understanding communication in the digital era, Marxist communication studies after the expansion of digital media, and new dimensions of communication that have been incorporated into Marxist literature. Topics that matter in this context include the intersection of play and work, media economics in the age of digital communication, digital labour, the online games industry, targeted advertising, newly emerging social inequalities, and surveillance and privacy issues. Also an outlook for potential future Marxist studies of communication is given.Keywords: communication studies, digital capitalism, digital media, Marx, Marxist studies Acknowledgement: The author thanks Christian Fuchs for his valuable suggestions and contributions.

Karl Marx and the language sciences – critical encounters: introduction to the special issue

“…The whole subject of communication is of critical importance to Marx's thinking as has been convincingly shown by a number of scholars (e.g., Matterlart, 1996;Artz et el, 2006;Fuchs, 2010) in their focus on Marx's analyses of the history and development of the means of communication and the forms of communicational organization of capitalist production. Furthermore, Fuchs argues strongly for a proper appreciation of Marx's understanding of the emerging role of the media as part of the development of capitalist infrastructure production and at the same time as spheres of political and ideological activity: 'Marx should be considered as the founding father of critical media and communication studies and that his works can be applied today to explain phenomena as for example global communication, knowledge labor, media and globalization, media and social struggles, alternative media, media capital accumulation, media monopolies and media capital concentration, the dialectics of information, or media and war' (Fuchs, 2010: 34) Though recent surveys of Marx-related publications in the field of communication and communication theory (e.g., Erdogan, 2012;Kayihan, 2018) paint a rather modest picture of the extent of Marx's influence and interest, they nonetheless show a continuing presence of explicit Marxian commitment and engagement amongst communication specialists, with a number of scholars producing work of significant and lasting value in that area (e.g., Matterlart, 1996;Mattelart and Sieglaub, 1983;Castells, 2013). Mattelart has also drawn attention to the fundamental importance for the study of communication of Marx's concept of Verkehr, as he explains:…”