Introduction: Contradictions of ICT

This first chapter sets out the contradictory way in which Information Communication Technology (ICT) habitually fails to deliver on its promises despite its ability to enrich our lives. Author Mike Healy sets up two main contradictory views of on the theory of alienation. Marx’s understanding is that alienation derives directly from capitalism, whilst Seeman’s approach locates alienation as a specific instance, describing it as an abnormal response to life’s pressures. This chapter sets out the ethical and societal implications of the ICT industry, and inconsistences. The book’s overall plan is to address one simple question: what feeds the central contradiction where people experience ICT in a profoundly contradictory way? The book will argue that approaches such as a call for better technology, more effective end-user education, and greater regulation of the digital sphere, are inherently limited solutions.

Alienation and Work: A Common View

This chapter looks at the views of both the ICT professionals and scholars about a specific aspect of Marx’s theory of alienation, namely their attitude towards work. The author investigates whether the ICT professionals or scholars would continue working if they had the economic and social means to stop. Subsequent discussion then focuses on the responses of to two questions asking participants to reflect on their work experience. The first question sought to examine what changes the participants would make if they had the opportunity to start their careers again. The second asked what changes they would make if they had access to sufficient resources, enabling them to be free of paid employment and provide funds for any projects they might wish to follow. Using evidence obtained from both the ICT professionals and scholars, Healy’s study validates Marx’s view that, as soon as the necessity to work has been removed, it is generally ‘avoided like the plague’ but that the responses raised questions regarding the possibility of engaging in non-alienated labour within a context where every aspect of life is dominated by alienated labour.

ICT, Senior End-users and Alienation

This penultimate chapter investigates the relationship between mature end-users and ICT. Although Marx referred to the pervasive nature of alienation and its influence in non-work environments, he did not develop this aspect of alienation and therefore his theory is often, mistakenly in the author’s view, considered as being applicable only to work. This chapter therefore considers the diverse impact the alienated relation between capital and labour might have outside work related to peoples’ attitudes and experiences of technology and what strategies or coping mechanisms could be used to confront alienation and how effective they might be. It undertakes this by drawing upon data collected during sessions with a group of end-user pensioners based in South London, UK. The sessions revealed shared alienated attitudes towards technology, negative consequences over a lack of control of it and the context within which it was used, but they also showed the benefits of addressing problems collectively and the intangible social and individual benefits of collaboratively determining learning and work processes. The evidence of the group and the subsequent analysis demonstrate that while it is possible to engage in activity that can confront alienation in a specific and concrete context, there are more fundamental problems concerning the nature of ICT that cannot be resolved by these engagements alone.

Critique and Conclusion

This conclusion discusses the extent to which the research themes have been addressed and identifies areas of possible further research. It also provides a critique of the project’s own research process. This book has considered three overarching themes: firstly, how far Marx’s approach to alienation could help theorise the experiences of the author’s three groups of research participants within their various settings. Secondly, how the dynamic nature of each examined environment added credibility to the view that alienation cannot be properly understood using simplified research approaches such as Seeman’s. Lastly it considers the extent to which Marx’s theory might be of use in providing a framework for undertaking the research into alienation in other contexts. The chapter also assesses strategies of amelioration of alienation and wider changes to the working environment as suggested by Marx whilst in the meantime acknowledging the virtue of practical steps to challenge and overcome the alienation so deeply rooted within our digital lives. The evidence presented within this book is in support of Marx’s persuasive line of argument that if the alienation of groups within society is to be avoided, ICT should be taken out of the control of capital and placed under the direction of collectives or communities.

Alienation and Work: ICT Professionals

This chapter surveys the effectiveness of Marx’s theory of alienation by examining the experiences of ICT professionals within the workplace. This chapter studies whether Marx’s theory helps in creating the conditions to enable ICT professionals to articulate their working lives as they see them, within the general trends of the sector, and to theorise their experiences. The author first describes the participants of his setting, before going on to consider the meaning of professionalism for them. Next, the chapter examines previous and existing research into ICT professionals, defining the key characteristics that shape the ICT industry. It then takes this overarching environment and applies it to the ICT professionals who took part in his own research presenting a distillation of their verbatim views about their own work and experiences touching on practices such as work process engineering, ‘benching’, ‘body shopping’ and how management of their labour functions. The author concludes that the power structures within which ICT professionals work shapes the products they produce, further emphasising that technology and its development are primarily advancing the interests of capital contributing to professionals’ expressions and experiences of alienation.

Researching ICT: The Scholars’ Alienated Experience

‘Researching ICT: The Scholars’ Alienated Experience’ examines the experience of academics researching the ethical and societal aspects of ICT. The chapter asks how effective Marx’s theory of alienation would be when applied to what could be described as a relatively ‘benign’ experience since it is generally assumed that researchers have some autonomy over their work. The chapter opens by describing the conflictual and constantly changing conditions that shape the scholars’ working environment with its attendant stresses and contradictory pressures including a neoliberal management environment, problems associating with publishing including peer review and the wider contexts of demands s at universities including those of teaching and administration. The author uses Sarah Mann’s application of Marx’s theory of alienation to students' lack of engagement to bring into focus this other contributor to the alienated condition of the academic arising in Higher Education. Important factors contributing to the alienated feelings of researchers expressed through the research included commitment to a subject, creativity (or lack of), collaboration and/vs competition and academics’ lack of control over ‘process and product’ when it comes to research funding and publishing the results of it. The analysis concludes that pressures arising from the competitive research environment are the focus of much concern for researchers and that the analysis of alienation as presented by Marx is helpful in understanding their condition.

Theories of Alienation – Seeman and Marx

This chapter examines in detail the two contrasting approaches to alienation of Seeman and Marx detailing how key concepts of Marx’s theory of humanity affects his understanding of alienation. After discussing Seeman’s more routinely-favoured perspective the chapter outlines three problems with such alternative theories of alienation: first, the shadow of Marx and the political implications of his broad view; secondly, the difficulty in undertaking measurable, quantifiable work that is demanded by dominant positivist frameworks; and lastly the problem of the vague nature of the term alienation, that it is frequently synonymised with vague feelings of unease or dissatisfaction. The relation of alienation to reification is also discussed as well as the approaches of Blauner, Wendling and autonomist Marxism. The author concludes that it is feasible to research alienation using Marx’s categories and approach to social analysis because they offer greater penetrating explanatory power than other viewpoints.

Researching Alienation

In this chapter, the author outlines a way to research Marx’s approach to alienation that moves beyond polemics. In doing so, he describes his chosen method of collecting, analysing and presenting data setting out the rationale for his chosen methodology, critical realism (CR), underpinned with participatory action research (PAR). The chapter also provides a description of the organisations of the book’s three research settings, whilst also detailing the processes involved in obtaining the appropriate data. The research aimed to ask whether Marx’s approach can explain lived alienated experiences of groups in three distinct settings: ICT professionals, academics researching the ethical implications of ICT, and senior end-users. The author determines that several of his findings and secondary literature have informed his rejection of a positivist approach.