Joss Hands

What impact does our relentless fixation on gadgets have on the struggle for new kinds of solidarity, political articulation and intelligence? In this groundbreaking study, Joss Hands explores the new political and social forces that are emerging in the age of social media.

Gadget Consciousness examines the transformation of our consciousness as a historical political force in two senses: as individual consciousness - in terms of sentience and will - and also as class consciousness. Exploring a range of manifestations in the digital commons, he investigates what forms digital solidarity can take, and asks whether we can learn from the communisms of the past and how might solidarity be manifested in the future?

Today, the ubiquity of networked gadgets offers exciting new opportunities for social and political change, but also significant dangers of alienation and stupefaction.

'@ is For Activism' examines the transformation of politics through digital media, including digital television, online social networking and mobile computing. Joss Hands maps out how political relationships have been reconfigured and new modes of cooperation, deliberation and representation have emerged. This analysis is applied to the organisation and practice of alternative politics, showing how they have developed and embraced the new political and technological environment. Hands offers a comprehensive critical survey of existing literature, as well as an original perspective on networks and political change. He includes many case studies including the anti-war and global justice movements, peer production, user created TV and 'Twitter' activism. "@ is For Activism" is essential for activists and students of politics and media. Note the version here is a pre-print proof which differs from the published version and should not be cited from.

In a world increasingly characterised by perpetual re-invention through the dynamic flows of capital, persons and ideas, understanding change and transformation is an imperative. The purpose of this book is a first step in a project to engage the dynamics of transformation at the interface of culture and politics, through contextualisation, reflection and a sharing of intellectual resources. Bringing together the work of academics from a range of disciplines, who share an overarching aim to map such transformations, the volume covers themes ranging from popular culture, the Internet, to film and cinema. Casting a contemporary gaze on cultural phenomena, the contributors all seek to trace trajectories of change and continuity from within their own specific field, using a range of approaches from theoretical reflection to empirical case studies. Of general interest to students of the humanities and social sciences, and of particular interest for students of cultural studies and communication at all levels, this volume constitutes a unique opportunity to reflect on recent transformations but also on the persistence of certain cultural and political practices.

It is well acknowledged that there is not one but many Marxes, and one area where this has been most evident is in the question of technological and economic determin-ism. This article traces some key moments in this debate and attempts to locate their most recent iteration in disagreements over the place of the human brain in both historical agency and value creation in so called 'cognitive' or 'post-Fordist' capitalism. Of significant interest in the current configuration – or rather composition – of capital is the place of the digitisation of the labour process and its relation to, and integration with, human cognition and volition. Arguments over the attention economy and the power of post-Fordist capitalism to distract and direct is a significant variation of the question of ideology and the latest variation of the base/superstructure debate. This article will unpack the aforesaid issues to offer an articulated perspective in order to make the argument that taking a balanced view of determination will allow us to acknowledge that – drawing on the argument of determination in the last instance – we can hold both of these 'Marxes' to be simultaneously valid. Here, a revisiting of Marx's concept of General Intellect will be undertaken, wherein the productive capacity of living labour is employed in both active agency and the capture of value, in which the plasticity of the living brain becomes the pivot point for both exploitation by, and resistance to, capital .