Machines Against Measures - (Autonomy and Automation) by Irene Sotiropoulou

Book Synopsis

Are we doomed because of the new digital technologies used in workspaces? Can we avoid measuring in our work? Or are we trapped in a metrification dystopia? Can we create workspaces that can produce what we prefer in order to use our human effort in ways that support nature and our communities? And if yes, what technologies could we use?

Here, monetary-theorist Irene Sotiropoulou explores and critiques the information and communication means that were created for capitalist profit-making, showing how we can subvert these and use them for our own non-capitalist purposes. Machines Against Measures shows that in times of capitalist restructuring and multiple social reproduction crises, there open up new possibilities to experiment with quantity, measuring, machines and digital technologies, creating new ways of production and transaction. Within these, are ways of sharing and producing that defy many principles of capitalist relations. Using everyday examples from grassroots activity, this book offers new insights into how to be inventive with what we have at hand and be able to reflect on what technologies we truly need, revealing a grounded and practical vision of technology and work, based on re-defining why and how we measure what we do.

Review Quotes

In Greece, the financial and economic crisis of 2009 produced a social crisis. A multitude of grassroots initiatives responded to it, and some of these experimented with methods of production and exchange outside the mainstream economy. Irene Sotiropoulou's research considers how such ventures can develop tools and technologies, in particular those that quantify and measure work and goods, independently of, and in opposition to, capitalism and patriarchy - issues that will concern all who hope for social change.
Simon Pirani, Honorary Professor, University of Durham

About the Author

Irene Sotiropoulou is Senior Lecturer in the Business School at Edge Hill University, UK, where she is specializes in ecological, feminist, solidarity and non-capitalist economics.