Research On Duality Of Digital Labor From The Perspective Of Marx’s Labor Value Theory

In the digital era,people’s production activities and ways of interaction are being quietly reshaped by digital information technology.Digital information technology has given birth to a new form of labor-"digital labor".Unlike agricultural and industrial civilizations,which are highly dependent on material means of production in the production process.Digital labor can integrate human emotions,culture and knowledge into the labor process and present them in the form of data.Undoubtedly,in the digital era,data has become an important factor of production and is involved in the production process.However,the question of how digital labor generates value has always been controversial in academic circles.Compared with the industrial era,the rapid development of digital information technology has led to a radical change in the space,conditions and paradigms of labor,but the analysis of the duality of labor in Marxist political economy is still applicable to digital labor.In fact,as long as the capitalist mode of production exists,digital labor remains the object of capital exploitation.In view of this,we need to clarify the essence of digital labor and analyze the value production process of digital labor.First of all,this paper argues that the definition of "digital labor" should abandon the debate between "materiality" and "immateriality",and that digital labor refers to the production of data in the process of using digital technology,as well as the production of data in the process of using data.Digital labor refers to the production of data in the process of using digital technology and the productive work done with the data.As a new kind of labor,the data produced by digital labor becomes an important factor of production.Therefore,digital labor has an important use value.At the same time,under the capitalist mode of production,the data produced by users becomes a commodity that can be exchanged.Therefore,digital labor also has value.Based on this,this paper argues that digital labor has the duality of labor,and we can use Marx’s labor value theory to analyze the value production process of digital labor.Secondly,this paper argues that the data commodity formed by users collectively not only has use value,but also has exchange value.The use value of data commodity has public nature,which can serve both society and individuals,and at the same time,it can also be a source of value for capital multiplication.The Internet platform,on the other hand,appropriates data commodities without compensation,making them serve capital.Finally,this paper argues that attempts to get rid of capital’s slaughter of digital labor must vigorously develop productivity,promote data sharing,and ultimately realize changes in production relations.