Here’s a new book you should read:
The class of the new
“Netizens, elancers, cognitarians, swarm-capitalists, hackers,
produsumers, knowledge workers, pro-ams… these are just a few of the monikers that have been applied to the new social class emerging from the networked workplace.
In this short book, Richard Barbrook presents a collection of quotations from authors who in different ways attempt to identify an innovative element within society - ‘the class of the new’. Announcing a new economic and social paradigm, this class constitutes a ’social prophecy’ of the shape of work to come. From Adam Smith’s ‘Philosophers’ of the late 18th century, down to the ‘Creative Class’ celebrated by sociologist Richard Florida today, the class of the new represents the future of production within and beyond capitalism.”
The book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence and can be freely downloaded from www.theclassofthenew.net.
You can actually get the PDF file of the book off his website.
Personally, I couldn’t read it. I could have been in the wrong mood at the time but it made me feel distorted and restless (which would be cool if it was high literary prose!).
Usually, I’m used to reading anything from, informal blog entries to scientific/academic papers but it seemed to me the writing was going in three directions at once. It’s like someone who kept a secret for years, couldn’t wait to divulge it and the blathered everything out like a waterfall! To me he seemed to use many new esoteric sociological terminologies, that had no meaning and were vague to me. It almost felt like they were created solely for the book. In short, I was inundated.
I supposed I’ll have a bash at it sometime later.
You can actually get the PDF file of the book off his website.
Personally, I couldn’t read it. I could have been in the wrong mood at the time but it made me feel distorted and restless (which would be cool if it was high literary prose!).
Usually, I’m used to reading anything from, informal blog entries to scientific/academic papers but it seemed to me the writing was going in three directions at once. It’s like someone who kept a secret for years, couldn’t wait to divulge it and the blathered everything out like a waterfall! To me he seemed to use many new esoteric sociological terminologies, that had no meaning and were vague to me. It almost felt like they were created solely for the book. In short, I was inundated.
I supposed I’ll have a bash at it sometime later.