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/ > > > > > > > -- --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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