Digital, Class, Work: Before and During Covid-19

This book provides a systematic account of the impact of COVID-19 on the digital labour process by situating its analysis within the broader and global perspective of neoliberalism and financialisation. It investigates how COVID-19 has both changed and strengthened neoliberal and financialised class relations in the digital workplace. By drawing on Marxist theory and numerous empirical studies, the book examines these areas both before and during COVID-19 by focusing on five distinctive digital labour and work processes: global ‘productive’ digital work processes in sectors like manufacturing; ‘unproductive’ digital work in sectors like retail and finance; creative industries; gig and platform work; and digital work in the state and public sector. It also maps out degrees of class struggle in and around exploitation, oppression and emancipatory potential in the digital workplace before and during the pandemic.