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01 Nov 2010 /

what is the meaning of autonomy today? subjectivation, social composition, refusal of work

By franco “bifo” berardi

In this 2004 text, Italian thinker and activist Franco “Bifo” Berardi, draws a brief genealogy on a movement toward labor autonomy in office/work relations so as to offer a window on the current dynamics between cognitive labour, capitalism and globalization in the dotcom era. In so doing, Berardi not only demonstrates the role the Internet and other forms of communication play in changing work patters, but goes so far as to  predict, with extreme accuracy, the current financial crisis, 2007-.

“I do not intend to make an historical recapitulation of the movement called autonomy, but I want to understand its peculiarity through an overview of some concepts like "refusal of work", and "class composition". Journalists often use the word "operaismo" to define a political and philosophical movement which surfaced in Italy during the 60s. I absolutely dislike this term, because it reduces the complexity of the social reality to the mere datum of the centrality of the industrial workers in the social dynamics of…”

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