Capitalism now annexes life processes beyond labor, which orthodox labor-centered Marxism cannot explain.

Evidence

Many remember from Marx the idea that capitalism’s social order is based on labor relations: the transformation of what was once just productive activity into labor power. Labor power has the abstract measurable dimension of a commodity that can be exchanged in a market for money. Under capitalism, workers stop being “a part of the conditions of production (as in slavery or serfdom),” and their labor power becomes something they can sell as a commodity. But if that were all there was to Marx’s social theory, it would not help us understand a world in which, as we have seen, capitalism’s underlying drive to capitalize life itself has taken on new forms that are not all routed through labor—that is, what is understood in some sense as productive activity. We are concerned here with the annexation to capital of life processes whether or not they are labor, evidenced when many of the life streams from which data is extracted for value are not seen by those involved as part of any productive activity. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 143

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘annexation of life processes beyond labor’ move defines what distinguishes the data-colonialism frame from the labor/surveillance schools the reader is comparing. — connects to: Capitalist valorization extends beyond monetized labor to the conditions of production themselves — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 743; Late capitalism is when life’s exteriors to capital become nearly impossible to find. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory: A Marxist…, 52; For Marx, human culture arises only through socially organized labor. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 881 (+5 more)
• DEFINE: Sharpens what data colonialism captures that orthodox Marxist labor analysis misses — boundary definition is exactly what the reader needs.

Broader Connections

• Capitalist valorization extends beyond monetized labor to the conditions of production themselves #corroborates (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 743
• Capital cannot yield all of Marxism without further theoretical development because capitalism constantly develops #corroborates (0.85)
• Late capitalism is when life’s exteriors to capital become nearly impossible to find. #expands (0.80) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 52
• Capitalism shapes selfhood, ecology, and institutions well beyond economics #corroborates (0.78) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 69
• For Marx, human culture arises only through socially organized labor. #qualifies (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 881
• Capitalism is symptomatic of a deeper civilizational disorder that Marxism fails to name #expands (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1427
• Capitalist modernity cannot be understood from its internal dynamics alone #corroborates (0.75) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 487
• Capitalism’s expansion axis has shifted to a new raw material #expands (0.70) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 65