Exploitation of the self in community-based software production: workers’ freedoms or firm foundations?

Moore, P; Taylor, PA

Abstract

Free Software and Open Source (FS/OS) constitute a new and open, evolutionary technological arena wherein hundreds and sometimes thousands of users voluntarily explore design codes, spot bugs in codes, and make contributions to the code in a co-operative communal fashion at odds with the otherwise hugely monopolized software market. This ¿computerization movement¿ emerged as a challenge to the domination of the software market by such behemothic firms as Microsoft and IBM, and is a portrayed as having a revolutionary ¿ultimate goal¿; ¿to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do, and thus make proprietary software obsolete¿ (Free Software Foundation 2008). These developments promise emancipation from the strictures of scientific management and antiquated, hierarchical production relations. But in this paper, we ask, to what extent does FS/OS actually challenge the orthodoxy of hierarchies and power relations within the firm? Does the ego-less programming of the informationally buzzy bazaar really free participants from the stuffy pews of the cathedral and truly challenge the essence of capitalism?

Citation

Moore, P., & Taylor, P. (2009). Exploitation of the self in community-based software production: workers’ freedoms or firm foundations?. Capital and Class, 33(1), 99-119. https://doi.org/10.1177/030981680909700106

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2011
• Journal: Capital and Class
• Print ISSN: 0309-8168
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 99-119
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/030981680909700106
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177/030981680909700106