File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9710, message 418


From: Michael Hoover <hoov-AT-freenet.tlh.fl.us>
Subject: M-I: Book announcement (fwd)
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 97 18:51:51 18000


Forwarded message:
> From: lp-tech-AT-dclink.com
> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 22:49:34 -0500 
> Subject: Book announcement
> ================[ Distributed Message ]===============>          ListServer: LP-Tech (Labor Party and trade union policies)
> Original Written by: INT:wkatzfishman-AT-igc.apc.org.
> ======================================================> >                        Book Announcement
> >
> >CUTTING EDGE
> >Technology, Information Capitalism and Social Revolution
> >
> >Edited by Jim Davis, Thomas A. Hirschl and Michael Stack
> >
> >Published by Verso, Fall, 1997
> >
> >Available at bookstores now
> >
> >+----------------------------------------------------------------+
> >
> >A robot can build a car. But a robot cannot buy a car... The
> >explosion in the development of computer- and robotic-based
> >manufacturing is seeing the rapid expansion of laborless
> >production systems. Such systems create enormous instability, both
> >for the overall economy where money previously paid in wages is
> >now invested in labor-saving technology and therefore cannot be
> >spent on goods, and for workers whose jobs are being deskilled or
> >are simply disappearing.
> >
> >Bringing together contributions from workers employed in the new
> >electronics and information industries with work from theorists in
> >economics, politics and science, Cutting Edge provides an up-to-
> >the-minute analysis of the complex relations between technology
> >and work.
> >
> >Paperback
> >1 85984 185 6
> >£15.00 / $20.00
> >
> >Hardback
> >1 85984 830 3
> >£40.00 / $65.00
> >
> >+----------------------------------------------------------------+
> >
> >
> >>From the introduction to _Cutting Edge_:
> >
> >"How is one to make sense of the world today? Contemporary
> >political and economic events as well as recent technological
> >developments defy conventional analysis. The general breakdown of
> >the post-World War II social order is well underway, visibly
> >evident in the dramatic dissolution of the Eastern European and
> >Soviet socialist economies. The dramatic polarization of wealth
> >and poverty -- not just between the technologized and under-
> >technologized nations, or north and south, but also within the
> >technologized center -- exposes the "capitalism has won" and
> >"history is over" pronouncements as rather premature. The
> >socioeconomic polarization matures as the powers of science and
> >technology leap ahead at breakneck speed.
> >
> >"While the traditional Left has lost much of its appeal, and the
> >world's labor unions are on the defensive, new forces have stepped
> >onto the world stage. Scenes from this drama are as diverse as the
> >Los Angeles rebellion in 1992, the Chiapas uprising beginning in
> >1994, the regular eruptions in the industrial heart of the U.S.,
> >the tent cities and marches of the welfare recipients and the
> >homeless in Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Oakland and other U.S.
> >cities, the labor strikes in France, Korea, Canada, Germany,
> >Russia, and the  new student movement emerging in the U.S. and
> >elsewhere. The world has entered a period of upheaval."
> >
> >"This collection of essays attempts to make sense of trends and
> >developments as the 20th century draws to a close. The pieces
> >share an attempt to confront the contradictions of society today,
> >and put them on a firm material footing. Despite the many gloomy
> >signals as this is written, they betray a spirit of optimism about
> >the future."
> >
> >
> >+----------------------------------------------------------------+
> >
> >
> >CONTENTS:
> >
> >1. Introduction: Integrated Circuits, Circuits of Capital and
> >Revolutionary Change
> >
> >
> >2. Robots and Capitalism
> >Tessa Morris-Suzuki
> >
> >
> >3. Why Machines Cannot Create Value; or, Marx's Theory of Machines
> >George Caffentzis
> >
> >
> >4. Capitalism in the Computer Age and Afterword
> >Tessa Morris-Suzuki
> >
> >
> >5. High Tech Hype: Promises and Reality of Technology in the 21st
> >Century
> >Guglielmo Carchedi
> >
> >
> >6. Value Creation in the Late Twentieth Century and the Rise of
> >the Knowledge Worker
> >Martin Kenney
> >
> >
> >7. The Information Commodity: A Preliminary View
> >Dan Schiller
> >
> >
> >8. The Digital Advantage
> >Jim Davis and Michael Stack
> >
> >
> >9. The Biotechnology Revolution: Self-Replicating Factories and
> >the Ownership of Life Forms
> >Jonathan King
> >
> >
> >10. Structural Unemployment and the Qualitative Transformation of
> >Capitalism
> >Tom Hirschl
> >
> >
> >11. How Will North America Work in the Twenty-First Century?
> >Sally Lerner
> >
> >
> >12. Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High-Technology Capitalism
> >Nick Witheford
> >
> >
> >13. A Note on Automation and Alienation
> >Ramin Ramtin
> >
> >
> >14. New Technologies, Neoliberalism and Social Polarization in
> >Mexico's Agriculture
> >Gerardo Otero, Stephanie Scott and Chris Balletto
> >
> >
> >15. The New Technological Imperative in Africa: Class Struggle on
> >the Edge of Third-Wave Revolution
> >Abdul Alkalimat
> >
> >
> >16. Heresies and Prophecies: The Social and Political Fall-out of
> >the Technological Revolution
> >A. Sivanandan
> >
> >
> >17. The Birth of a Modern Proletariat
> >Nelson Peery
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide
> Washington Office & Affiliate
> 6617 Millwood Road, Bethesda, MD 20817
> 301.320.4034; fax 301.320.4534
> email wkatzfishman-AT-igc.apc.org
> http://www.peacenet.org/projectsouth/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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