This book deals with the transformations of both accumulation process and labour in the transition from a Fordist to a cognitive capitalism paradigm, with specific regard to Western economies. It outlines the advent, after industrial capitalism, of a new phase of the capitalist system in which the value of cognitive labour becomes dominant. In this framework, the central stakes of capital valorisation and forms of property are directly based on the control and privatization of the production of collective knowledge. Here, the transformation of knowledge itself, into a commodity or a fictitious capital, is analyzed. Building on this foundation, the authors outline their concept of "commonfare." This idea of commonfare implies, as a prerequisite, the social re-appropriation of the gains arising from the exploitation of those social relations which are the basis of accumulation today. This re-appropriation does not necessarily lead to the transition from private to public ownership but it does make it necessary to distinguish between common goods and the commonwealth. This book explains this distinction and how common goods and the commonwealth require a different framework of analysis. This volume will be of great interest to all scholars and researchers, as well as a more general readership, who wish to develop a critical thinking of the mainstream analysis of this topic. Contributing to the "Marxism-heterodox" approach using rigorous theoretical analysis and empirical evidence, it is aimed at all those who act socially and aspire to a better understanding of the development and the contradictions of contemporary capitalism.

This book argues that we are undergoing a transition from industrial capitalism to a new form of capitalism - what the author calls & lsquo; cognitive capitalism & rsquo;

The attention economy is a notion that explains the growing value of human attention in societies characterised by post-industrial modes of production. In a world in which information and knowledge become central to the valorisation process of capital, human attention becomes a scarce and hence increasingly valuable commodity. To what degree is the attention economy a specific form of capitalist production? How does the attention economy differ from the industrial mode of production in which Marx developed his critique of capitalism? How can Marx’s theory be used today despite the historical differences that separate industrial from post-industrial capitalism? The Attention Economy argues that human attention is a new form of labour that can only be understood through a systematic reinterpretation of Marx. It argues that the attention economy belongs to a general shift in capitalism in which subjectivity itself becomes the territory of production and exploitation of value as well as the territory of the reproduction of capitalist power relations.

Cognitive capitalism - sometimes referred to as 'third capitalism, ' after mercantilism and industrial capitalism - is an increasingly significant theory, given its focus on the socio-economic changes caused by Internet and Web 2.0 technologies that have transformed the mode of production and the nature of labor. The theory of cognitive capitalism has its origins in French and Italian thinkers, particularly Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari'sCapitalism and Schizophrenia, Michel Foucault's work on the birth of biopower and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's Empire and Multitude, as well as the Italian Autonomist Marxist movement that had its origins in the Italian operaismo (workerism) of the 1960s. In this collection, leading international scholars explore the significance of cognitive capitalism for education, especially focusing on the question of digital labor.

Cognitive capitalism is considered to be a new stage in the historical evolution of capitalism which is undergoing a metamorphosis affecting most of the laws and tendencies characteristic of industrial capitalism. This raises a series of issues tackled in the theoretical part, especially regarding the increased importance of cognitive work and the new composition of the labour market that influence the determinants of the value of goods, the structure of welfare, and the forms of income distribution. A historical analysis is applied to describe the evolution of cognitive capitalism and its endogenous, potentially destabilising, dynamics. The empirical part analyses the diffusion of cognitive capitalism in the former socialist countries of South-Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

Radical scholarship tends to scoff at managerial discourse as mere “ideology” and leave management writings to managers. We aim to turn on its head that approach and posit a correspondence between Marxism and organization and management theorizing (OMT). Management needs a theory of value, fit for contemporary, cognitive capitalism. We put forward the Marxian labor theory of value (LTV) as the territory for such synthetical exchange to commence. Whereas, previous Marxist influences on OMT were through an intermediary discourse, we endeavor a direct exchange. For that task, we make the most of the Autonomist Marxist tradition, inasmuch as it offers us a coherent explanation of the social foundations of post-Fordism. We scrutinize features of the LTV in cognitive capitalism and put forward propositions that can enrich O&M theory. At the crossroads of Marxism and Management, we reach the assertion of a negation of value creation in cognitive capitalism: consumption precedes production and creates - rather than destroys - value.

This book studies cross-country differences in cognitive capital, exploring how levels of education are linked to a nation's economic development. It is for graduates and research in a wide range of fields, including economics, psychology, sociology and political science.