The New 'Hidden Abode': Reflections on Value and Labour in the New Economy

This paper engages with the works of Autonomist Marxists, such as Hardt, Negri and Arvidsson, who have argued that the so-called ‘new economy’, which is characterized by a new importance of immaterial labour, knowledge and processes of consumption, gives rise to a new law of value and changed labour relations in what they call the ‘social factory’. While we see a lot of value in this emerging body of literature – particularly in terms of its potential for critiquing relatively narrow debates in critical organization and management studies – this paper critiques the highly optimistic analyses put forward by Hardt, Negri and Arvidsson, especially with regard to their claims for a new autonomy and freedom of labour emerging out of the ‘new economy’. We counter these claims by showing how in contemporary capitalism, despite the discourses of autonomy and freedom, labour is continuously subjected to control, measurement and governance.