The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Brands: A critical perspective
Abstract
This article proposes a critical perspectives on brands based on recent developments within Marxist thought. It argues that brands build on the immaterial labour of consumers: their ability to create an ethical surplus (a social bond, a shared experience, a common identity) through productive communication. This labour is generally free in the sense that it is both un-paid and more or less autonomous. Contemporary brand management consists in a series of techniques by means of which such free labor is managed so that it comes to produce desirable and valuable outcomes. By thus making productive communication unfold on the plateau of brands, the enhanced ability of the contemporary multitude to produce a common social world is exploited as a source of surplus value.
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In the citing paper
“In a context where the exchange value of many commodities derives from their brand value, this work is thus directly productive (Arvidsson, 2005; Land and Taylor, 2010).”
From Free Labour, Social Media, Management: Challenging Marxist Organization Studies (2015) · cites this paper as Arvidsson, 2005
In the citing paper
“Arvidsson's alternative to the labour theory of value is an idealistic and subjectivist concept of value - ethical value understood as 'the ability to create the kinds of affectively significant relations' (Arvidsson 2005, 270) - that ignores the reality of material inequality, precarious labour, and gaps between the rich and the poor”
From Dallas Smythe Today - The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory (2012) · cites this paper as Arvidsson 2005
In the citing paper
“When introducing the concept of brand value in an article that also mentions Smythe, Adam Arvidsson (2005, 238) immediately gives figures of brand values in US$, which shows that he thinks of value in terms of money (that signifies only the price of a commodity) and not in working hours (that signify the value of a commodity).”
From Dallas Smythe Today - The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory (2012) · cites this paper as Arvidsson 2005
In the citing paper
“and assumes that everything in the contemporary economy has become affective.”
From Dallas Smythe Today - The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory (2012) · cites this paper as Arvidsson 2005
In the citing paper
“The definition of brand value as 'the present value of predictable future earnings generated by the brand' (Arvidsson 2005, 238) is not only circular and therefore absurd (definition of value by value), but also makes clear that Arvidsson defines value only at the price level ('earnings').”
From Dallas Smythe Today - The Audience Commodity, the Digital Labour Debate, Marxist Political Economy and Critical Theory (2012) · cites this paper as Arvidsson 2005
Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Fuchs, C. (2012) · tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society · doi:10.31269/triplec.v10i2.443 · Cited by 212
Free Labour, Social Media, Management: Challenging Marxist Organization Studies
Beverungen, A., Böhm, S., & Land, C. (2015) · Organization Studies · doi:10.1177/0170840614561568 · Cited by 126
Purves, R. I., Stead, M., & Eadie, D. (2018) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph15020349 · Cited by 31
2. The Uses of Use Value: Marketing, Value Creation, and the Exigencies of Consumption Work
Foster, R. J. (2011) · Inside Marketing · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576746.003.0003 · Cited by 29
Metadata
- Authors
- Arvidsson, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Arvidsson, Adam
- ORCID
- Arvidsson, Adam
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Culture
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-07
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 235-258
- ISSN
- 1469-5405 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-2900
- OpenAlex
- W2335393234
- Cited by
- 522
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 44 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 28.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Consumer Culture (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Economy and Marxism
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Marxism and Critical Theory
- Keywords
- brand, Marxist theory, immaterial labor, productive communication, brand management, surplus value, multitude, social bonds, identity, collective experience
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