Abstract
The appearance of digital interactive technologies opened up space where the audiences
can express themselves freely through the user generated content. Often these new
possibilities have been associated with the concepts of
‘
participation
’
and
‘
empowermen
t
’
on one side, and
‘
free labour
’
and
‘
exploitation
’
on the other. Through literature published
during the past decade, this paper explores the relationship, tensions and connections
between different perspectives of cultural studies and political econom
y on these
phenomena. In some places this relationship is explained more directly, in the others
indirectly. While the cultural studies perspective considers media users as active and
productive, the political economy perspective looks at the audience
’
s ac
tivities as producing
profit for media industries.
As both perspectives are important and interlaced in audiences
’
experiences, this
essay
argues that there is a need for more studies that will try to build bridges between
participation and labour. This
brings novelties and openings in the area of intersection of
cultural studies and political economy.
Lingua originale | English |
---|---|
pagine (da-a) | 422-430 |
Numero di pagine | 9 |
Rivista | PARTICIPATIONS |
Volume | 13 |
Stato di pubblicazione | Pubblicato - 2016 |
Keywords
- labor
- participation
- political economy