Research Information System
ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference, COMMUNICATION, CAPITALISM AND CRITIQUE: CRITICAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Turin, Italy, 1 - 03 September 2022, pp.7-8
Due to the informatization of capitalist production, everyone has somewhat
the function of intellectual today. The historical divide between intellectuals and ‘nonintellectuals’ that Antonio Gramsci expected to be broken down via the mass party and mass
education has been blurred more than ever thanks to the informatization of the workforce.
With this paper I aim to discuss the role of intellectuality in the post-Ford era drawing on
the experiences of the advertising practitioners who encounter mass intellectuality captured
by datafication in certain ways. Based on a case study carried out in the Istanbul office of
a global communications agency in Turkey, this paper argues that datafied intellectuality
is a new actor in advertising production and might limit the autonomy of advertising
practitioners. Ultimately, I expect to contribute to the understanding of the contemporary role
of intellectuality by employing the concept of immaterial labor in an empirical case. Keywords:
mass intellectuality, communication labor, advertising practitioners, datafication. Background
Antonio Gramsci says that “All men are intellectuals…but not all men have in society the
function of intellectuals” (Gramsci, 2000: 304). For Gramsci, the political role of organic
intellectuals of the proletariat was to equip the working class with certain educational and
intellectual capabilities. However, contrary to Gramsci’s expectations, the intellectualization of
the working class was not achieved by the political leadership of organic intellectuals but the
informatization of capitalist production via techno-scientific developments as a response to
the resistance of the working class. This resulted in the reorganization of production by setting
several activities productive such as defining cultural-artistic standards and public opinion,
which redefined the role of intellectuals in society as mass intellectuality (Lazzarato, 1994: 132-
133). Intellectual skills traditionally defined as ‘professional’ diffuse into society while human
abilities such as communicative and cognitive competencies become productive (Virno, 2007;
2004: 110). While digitalization supported mass intellectuality, datafication captures the value
created by mass intellectuality and monetizes it in various ways (Turow, Mcguigan & Maris,
2015; Cote, 2014). One of these ways is putting mass intellectuality into work in advertising
production. This presents a challenge for the traditional occupations that produce culturalintellectual content of commodities. Advertising practitioners are one of these groups who
have been strongly facing this challenge. Although the agency of consumers/users has
long been debated via ‘prosumer’ or ‘digital labor’ concepts, the relationship between mass
intellectuality and labor in cultural industries attracted limited attention. Furthermore, the
role of advertising practitioners in the creation of value was substituted with the productivity
of mass intellectuality (2007). However, advertising practitioners’ experience of encountering
mass intellectuality captured by datafication tells us a more complicated story. Research
Questions -In what ways does datafication capture mass intellectuality? -How does datafied
mass intellectuality affect the work of advertising practitioners? -What is the relationship
between communication labor in the advertising industry and mass intellectuality? Research
Techniques A case study was carried out in the Istanbul office of a global communications
agency in Turkey which is one of the few that included a data department in its body. The
research drew on qualitative research techniques. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with
agency professionals including data analysts and creatives from the conventional and digital
teams were carried out. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with advertising/marketing
professionals outside the agency were conducted. Related white papers and sector magazines
were analyzed as supplementary sources. Results Datafication captures and monetizes mass
intellectuality in various forms such as online/offline consumer data, interaction rates on social
media or brand communities. Thus, intellectuality is put to work in advertising production.
Datafied mass intellectuality might limit the autonomy of advertising practitioners and lead
to the degradation of cultural work and require reskilling. Implications Mass intellectuality is a
new actor in advertising production; however, it is not the sole creator of the cultural content. There is a delicate relationship between mass intellectuality and communication labor in the
creation of value. It is also difficult to ascertain the political role of intellectuality from this
research; however, it is possible to say that the direct relation of intellectuality to economic
production is closer than ever.
References: Gramsci, A.(2000). “Intellectuals and Education”, The Gramsci Reader:Selected
Writings 1916-1935. Ed. David Forgacs.(300-322). New York University Press. Virno, P.(2004). A
Grammar of Multitude: For an Analysis of Contemporary Forms of Life. Semiotext(e). Lazzarato,
M.(1996). “Immaterial Labor”. Radical Thought in Italy:A Potential Politics. Eds. Paolo Virno
&Michael Hardt.(133-150). University of Minnesota Press. Turow, J., McGuigan L.&Maris, E.
R.(2015). Making data mining a natural part of life:Physical retailing, customer surveillance
and the 21st century social imaginary. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 18 (4-5),464–
478. Coté, M.(2014). Data Motility:The Materiality of Big Social Data. Cultural Studies Review,
20(1),121-149. Arvidsson, A.(2007). Creative Class or Administrative Class? On Advertising and
the ‘Underground’. Ephemera Theory&Politics in Organization, 7(1),8-23.