Who is pulling the strings in the platform economy? Accounting for the dark and unexpected sides of algorithmic control

This paper aims to address the dark side perspective on digital control and surveillance by emphasizing the affective grip of ideological control, namely the process that silently ensures the subjugation of digital labour, and which keeps the ‘unexpectedness’ of algorithmic practices at bay: that is, the propensity of users to contest digital prescriptions. In particular, the theoretical contribution of this paper is to combine Labour Process with psychoanalytically-informed, post-structuralist theory, in order to connect to, and further our understanding of, how and why digital workers assent to, or oppose, the interpellations of algorithmic ideology at work. To illustrate the operation of affective control in the Platform Economy, the emblematic example of ride-hailing platforms, such as Uber, and their algorithmic management, is revisited. Thus, the empirical section describes the way drivers are glued to the algorithm (e.g. for one more fare, or for the next surge pricing) in a way that prevents them, although not always, from considering genuine resistance to management. Finally, the paper discusses the central place of ideological fantasy and cynical enjoyment in the Platform Economy, as well as the ethical implications of the study.

Climate Change Inaction and Optimism

The problem of climate change inaction is sometimes said to be ‘wicked’, or essentially insoluble, and it has also been seen as a collective action problem, which is correct but inconsequential. In the absence of progress, much is made of various frailties of the public, hence the need for an optimistic tone in public discourse to overcome fatalism and encourage positive action. This argument is immaterial without meaningful action in the first place, and to favour what amounts to the suppression of truth over intellectual openness is in any case disreputable. ‘Optimism’ is also vexed in this context, often having been opposed to the sombre mood of environmentalists by advocates of economic growth. The greater mental impediments are ideological fantasy, which is blind to the contradictions in public discourse, and the misapprehension that if optimism is appropriate in one social or policy context it must be appropriate in others. Optimism, far from spurring climate change action, fosters inaction.

KRITIK ARAFAT NUR TERHADAP TATANAN SIMBOLIK DAN SUBJEK DALAM NOVEL BURUNG TERBANG DI KELAM MALAM

In the creation of literary works, either consciously or unconsciously the author will always insert his ideology. The insertion of the ideology can be seen from the criticisms delivered by the author. Literary works are a medium for the author to convey a critique of the reality that occurs, be it religious, social, cultural, political and other criticisms. But that becomes interesting when the author tries to open up an unconscious reality, opening up the decay of a system of power that will eventually become cynicism and submit to an ideological order. In this study, Arafat Nur's novel Burung Terbang di Kelam Malam was chosen to prove this ideological fantasy. The problem contained in this study is (1) What is the symbolic order of acehnese people in the novel Burung Terbang di Kelam Malam? (2) What is Arafat Nur's criticism of the subject (Acehnese) in the novel Burung Terbang di Kelam Malam? To answer that question, the theory used was an authentic subject and ideological fantasy introduced by Slavoj Zizek and analyzed with descriptive analytical methodology. The results of this study prove that, firstly, the symbolic order (Islamic Sharia as the identity of Aceh) failed to form a radical subject. Although the subject has relinquished the symbolic order that shackled him all along, he remains returning to the new symbolic order. The subjects who are still in power of the Big Other will never escape from the order that subjected them. The subject will not be able to reach the Real, because they cannot discuss it so the subject desires to fulfill Che Vuoi's call?, unconsciously the subject commits ideological fantasies. Second, the subject of fantasizing the ideology of Islamism (Islamic sharia) that desires the achievement of spirituality instead leads it to capitalism. Not just the subject (the character in the novel). Arafat Nur as an author was also caught up in capitalism so his attempts to go radical ended in failure.

Envy, Corruption and ‘Hard Racism’: Studying Antigypsyism as an Ideological Fantasy

Antigypsyism has been frequently said to be a racist ideology. However, although some studies have engaged with the ‘racist’ component of the thesis, almost no work has been done in terms of specifying what ideology is and how a certain conception of it can enhance the understanding of antigypsyism both as a concept and empirical phenomenon. This paper explores the potential of the Lacanian theory of ideology as exemplified by Slavoj Žižek for developing antigypsyism research. Overcoming the problem of false consciousness, Žižek’s conception offers an analytical framework that allows re-examining and elaborating on certain issues from the perspective which weaves social and psychic realities without falling into the traps of psychological reductionism. To illustrate this, this paper presents a Žižekian analysis of three issues that correspond to different aspects of the antigypsyist phenomenon identified via ethnographic research among the non-Roma inhabitants of a declining neighbourhood with a significant Roma presence in Czechia. The issues are called envy, corruption and ‘hard racism’.

Lunch of the last human: Nutritionally complete food and the fantasies of market-based progress

In this article, we integrate Nietzsche’s visions of self-overcoming with a Žižekian toolbox to explore how ‘market-based progress’ is upheld through a fabric of ideological fantasies. Through an analysis of Huel, a nutritionally complete British food brand aligned with progressive and techno-utopian discourses, we reveal a fantasmatic structure centred on pragmatism, the search for unassailable truth and continuance of a prehistoric legacy. These fantasies function as illusory support for acceptance that humanity’s great overcoming is singularly achieved through market logic and ethos. Here, a fetishistic inversion centres on subjects believing that the detached spectatorialism of consumption is closer to the act of the Nietzschean ‘Overhuman’ than it is to its inverse, the ‘last human’. This article provides the parameters for how ideological fantasy insulates the market from its material deadlocks and concludes with a conceptualization of the post-sovereign consumer’s subjectification along the fantastical contours of market-based progress.

Discursive Construction of Subject and Ideological Fantasy in Postcolonial Indonesia

This paper tries to explain the contestation at the discursive construction level of the subject. The subject in question is Indonesia in postcolonial era. The problem that will be answered was how the ideological fantasy constructed its subject. The data were chosen purposively from several novels. The paper approach is discourse-like in nature. The results of this paper show that in the contestation there is competition of colonial discourse, modernism; in which will also crossed with religion or local values. It can be concluded that there has been overlapping ideological fantasy of Indonesian postcolonial subject.

SUBJEKTIVITAS EKA KURNIAWAN MELALUI NOVEL LELAKI HARIMAU

Paradigma humanis dalam kajian sastra memposisikan manusia sebagai pusat. Penelitian ini mengkaji subjektivitas tokoh dan pengarang dalam semesta novel Lelaki Harimau karya Eka Kurniawan menggunakan teori subjektivitas Slavoj Zizek. Zizek memfokuskan pemikirannya pada tatanan riil dan simbolik dalam kehidupan manusia. Menurutnya, manusia mampu meraih kebebasan dan keotentikan dirinya selama ia bertindak melampaui norma-norma simbolik dan bergerak menuju dimensi riil dalam kehidupannya. Sebaliknya, manusia akan tetap terpenjara dalam dimensi simbolik, selama ia membiarkan dirinya tetap hanyut dalam kesadaran palsu ideologi. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada upaya radikal yang dilakukan oleh tokoh utama untuk mencapai kondisi riil melalui tindakan sadis dan tak berkeprimanusiaan yang melanggar aspek normatif dalam lingkaran simbolik. Akan tetapi, peristiwa yang dihadapi oleh tokoh tersebut berlawanan dengan diri pengarang sebagai subjek. Pengarang justru tidak menunjukkan adanya upaya radikal dalam kehidupannya sehingga ia tetap berada dalam fantasi ideologis.Kata Kunci:Subjektivitas, Slavoj Zizek, Eka Kurniawan, Tindakan Radikal, Fantasi ideologis. The humanist paradigm in literature study assigns humans as the center. This research examines the subjectivity of the characters and the author in Lelaki Harimau novel by Eka Kurniawan using Slavoj Zizek's theory of subjectivity. Zizek focused his thoughts on the real and symbolic order in human life. According to him, humans are able to achieve freedom and authenticity as long as they act beyond the symbolic norms and move towards the real dimension in their life. On the contrary, humans will remain imprisoned in a symbolic dimension as long as they allowed themselves drifted away on a false consciousness of ideology. This research indicates that there are radical efforts made by the main characters to achieve the real conditions through sadistic and inhumane actions that violate the normative aspects in a symbolic circle. However, the events faced by these characters are opposite to the author as the subject. In fact, the author does not perform any radical efforts in his life so that he remains in ideological fantasies.Keywords: subjectivity, Slavoj Zizek, Eka Kurniawan, radical act, ideological fantasy