A Study On Negri And Hardt’s Concept Of Immaterial Labor And It’s Liberating Potential

In their "Empire Trilogy"(Empire,Multitude,Commonwealth),Negeri and Hardt not only demonstrated the new global political and economic order--Empire,but also proposed and elaborated the Immaterial Labor theory as the economic foundation of the capital empire.Immaterial Labor refers to the creation of immaterial products,such as knowledge,information,communication,relationship and emotional reaction."Immaterial labor" has multiple meanings: First,it is a kind of communication labor that appears along with the information network;Second,a more interactive and cooperative way of labor;Third,this kind of labor can produce and adjust the feelings of the workers.Negri and Hardt connected the concept of "life politics" with the concept of Immaterial Labor through the deduction of Marx’s "Substantial Absorption" in das Kapital,and they believed that Immaterial Labor should be more accurately called "life political labor",that is,Immaterial Labor produces society itself while producing products.In the process of understanding the concept of " Immaterial Labor ",it is necessary to clarify the distinction and connection with Marx’s " Labor" and its "Immaterial Production Labor".In their study of the field of labor,Negri and Hardt said that Immaterial Labor began to replace industrial labor as the hegemony.When challenged by other scholars,they replied that the hegemony of Immaterial Labor is not determined by the quantity of labor,but the quality of labor,which can influence and change other forms of labor.Under the hegemony of immaterial labor,the relationship between production and consumption also changed.The boundary between working time and leisure time of production was broken,and production invaded into every corner of life,making the exploitation of capital more thorough and widespread.This new form of exploitation also provides a basis for the construction of a new revolutionary subject,the mass,and Outlines specific plans for the mass revolution.Immaterial Labor began to replace industrial labor as hegemony,Negri and Hardt said in their study of labor.When challenged by other scholars,they replied that the hegemony of Immaterial Labor is not determined by the quantity of labor,but the quality of labor,which can influence and change other forms of labor.Under the hegemony of immaterial labor,the relationship between production and consumption has also changed.The boundary between working time and leisure time of production has been broken,and production has invaded into every corner of life,making the exploitation of capital more thorough and universal.This new form of exploitation also provides the basis for constructing the mass as the new revolutionary subject and Outlines the concrete scheme of mass revolution.Negri and Hardt believe that Immaterial Labor Bridges the gap between Western Marxism and Traditional Marxism and provides conditions for Post-modern Revolution.Through the political interpretation of Marx’s capital and manuscripts,Negri and Hardt inherited Marx’s theoretical method of seeking liberation from the field of labor.Under the hegemony of Immaterial Labor,there is great potential for liberation,which provides conditions for the comprehensive liberation of human freedom.The theory of Immaterial Labor by Negri and Hardt is of certain significance to understand the development of contemporary capitalist globalization.The hegemony of Immaterial Labor not only affects the global economic development model,but also changes the hierarchy of the global economy,triggering a new round of industrial revolution.Developed countries exploit backward countries through the monopoly of science,technology and knowledge,but it is also an opportunity for backward countries to develop.The theory of Immaterial Labor has practical significance to promote the transformation of China’s industrial structure.