数字资本主义是资本主义社会在数字信息时代发展的具体形态,数字资本主义下的生产方式有着鲜明的时代特点。从劳动者的角度讲,数字劳工群体出现了明显的扩大趋势;从劳动工具的角度讲,更加智能化、自动化的数字工具不断普及应用;从劳动对象的角度讲,更大批量的数字信息和整合业态逐渐成为劳动对象。数字资本主义至今经历了三个发展阶段,从1946年开始至20世纪80年代中后期是萌芽阶段,从20世纪80年代中后期至21世纪第一个十年是互联网革命阶段,从21世纪第一个十年之后则属于物联网革命阶段。 由于生产方式的改变,数字资本主义时代出现了新的具体劳动形式、商品形式和货币形式,即数字劳动、信息商品和数字货币,这些对象在学界引起了广泛的争论。数字劳动从狭义上讲专指借助互联网工具、生产精神文化产品、区别于传统生产方式的劳动形式,从广义上讲是指一切被囊括进数字经济价值链的劳动形式。根据不同的划分标准,数字劳动可以被划分为线上劳动和线下劳动、有酬劳动和无酬劳动或者实体劳动和非实体劳动,其生产性劳动的属性也应当被肯定。信息商品则是用来交换的信息产品,是数字劳动的重要外在体现。信息商品虽然有区别于传统物质商品的特殊性,但它同样具备使用价值和价值,具备成为商品的条件,其价值仍然是由生产和再生产该商品的社会必要劳动时间决定的。信息商品有两种形式,即作为最终产品和作为流通工具的信息商品,两种形式的信息商品在资本剥削过程中起到的作用是不同的。数字货币也是随着经济生活数字化的过程出现的,数字货币有三种形态,一类是纯粹虚拟商城的交易货币,一类是国家法定发行的数字货币,一类是私人运营商发行的、与现实财富有互通能力的货币。第一种货币既不是货币也不是价值符号,其余两种货币则都是没有价值的价值符号。官方发行的数字货币具备货币的主要职能,其发展是大势所趋;而私人发行的货币不具备完整的货币职能,而且由于信用来源等问题,其发展前景并不乐观。 在数字信息技术的支撑下,数字资本主义时代剩余价值的生产过程也出现了新的特点。首先,新技术催生了新型的分工协作模式,从企业的角度来讲,企业间开始广泛地采取“中心—散点”的组织结构。“中心—散点”的组织结构有两种形态,一种存在于核心生产企业和边缘生产企业之间,一种存在于平台企业和个人或小微企业之间。“中心—散点”的组织结构有一些明显的特点,比如生产方式小而专、模块化,管理方式扁平化、网络化,业务范围不断融合等等;从社会总生产的角度来讲,可以促进资本增殖的生产过程的范围扩大了,脑力劳动者、服务工作者、产消合一者等劳工的劳动应当进一步被重视。其次,新技术推动了生产力的发展。一方面,人们对资源的利用能力提高了,由于智能设备的不断升级和更加科学的管理方式,人们对信息和自然资源的利用率不断提高;另一方面,由于劳动者素质的普遍提升和数字工具的普及运用,企业的劳动生产率也在不断提高。最后,新技术的资本主义应用提高了剥削程度。从绝对剩余价值的剥削方式来看,由于新技术可以使得劳工的劳动突破固定时间的限制、提高劳工的劳动强度并且会扩大剥削面积,因此对绝对剩余价值的剥削提高了;从相对剩余价值的剥削方式来看,人工智能等技术的运用会进一步缩短必要劳动时间,延长剩余劳动时间,因此对相对剩余价值的剥削也提高了。此外,数字信息技术的应用还导致了大量非雇佣工人的出现,他们不存在于雇佣劳动制度内部,却在实际上同样成为了资本家进行资本积累的工具。 数字资本主义时代市场上的竞争方式与垄断形式也发生了变化。在数字资本主义时代的市场上,多重竞争结构的出现是最大的特点,多重竞争结构由硬件层—平台层—应用层共同组成,不同行业、不同层级间的竞争关系互相影响,而数字资本家所拥有的互联网企业则拥有着最大的影响力。在数字资本主义时代,企业的竞争策略也出现了变化,从产品行为来看,企业会采取基础设施安装竞争、产品质量差异化竞争、构建生产联盟、知识产权保护、开放自定义机制等方式;从价格行为来看,企业会采取价格调整策略或价格歧视行为;从营销行为来看,企业会采取产品主流化策略、营销模式覆盖策略、广告创新等等。而从市场垄断程度的发展趋势上看,多重竞争结构中出现了平台层及以上趋于垄断、平台层以下趋于竞争的局面。平台层以上的企业会随着生产集中逐步扩大规模,出现数字垄断企业和数字垄断资本家,他们会不断侵吞市场份额,攫取垄断利润,阻止平均利润率的形成。 数字资本主义时代剥削程度的加深以及数字垄断资本家的出现会引起严重的经济问题。首先,数字经济较为发达的几个主要资本主义国家长期受到失业问题的困扰。虽然互联网对促进就业具有一定的积极作用,但是它无法消除相对过剩人口的存在,而由于机器对劳动力的排挤、“创造性破坏”、就业歧视、垄断资本主义的存在等原因,相对过剩人口的数量从长期看会逐步扩大。其次,数字资本主义时代的两极分化也有着不断扩大的趋势,其分配体系极度不平等。从企业与劳动力的分配体系来看,凭借着对生产资料的占有以及对工会的打压,资本家可以侵吞大量的利润;从企业间的分配体系来看,核心企业同样可以凭借私有权获取有利的分配地位;而从国际间的分配体系来看,资本家利用数字信息技术加强资本输出,构建有利于自身的生产体系、贸易体系和金融体系,从而进一步加强了世界范围内的收入不平等。可以看到,资本主义的基本矛盾并没有因为新技术的出现而消失,反而进一步激化了,社会化大生产与生产资料私人占有之间的矛盾将不断推动经济危机的出现。而由于难以在短期内获得固定资本更新和转嫁危机的技术动力,资本主义在上一次经济危机后出现了去周期化和经济停滞常态化的态势。 数字资本主义无法挽救资本主义制度,其存在具有历史暂时性,但它所创造的生产力为向数字社会主义制度创造了条件。数字经济与社会主义制度有着极强的相容性,相辅相成,而利用数字经济发展社会主义也是社会主义国家,特别是中国的社会经济的发展需要。中国目前有着良好的互联网发展基础,抓住数字经济发展的历史机遇,既是在国际竞争中夺取制高点的有效途径,也是迈向共产主义的必经之路。将数字经济与中国特色社会主义相融合,构建数字中国特色社会主义需要从多个方面做起。第一,要完善与数字经济发展相适应的基本经济制度,在增强国有资本对数字经济的控制力和引导的同时充分发挥多种所有制的优势,同时高度重视知识产权问题;第二,要构建与数字经济发展相适应的现代化经济体系,利用互联网推动优化产业结构、构建工业互联网、增强协调发展和开放发展水平;第三,建立与数字经济发展相适应的就业体系,培养一批高素质的数字劳工,优化互联网就业平台,推动新型就业模式发展;第四,利用数字信息技术完善分配体系,加强数字基础设施建设逐步消除“数字鸿沟”,取缔不合理收入,利用大数据等技术推动精准扶贫;第五,要处理好建设数字中国特色社会主义过程中政府与市场的关系,积极推广电子政务,增强数字市场活力,同时利用数字工具优化政府对市场的监管和调控。 关键词:数字资本主义;数字劳动;信息商品;非雇佣劳工;“中心—散点”结构;多重竞争结构;经济停滞常态化;数字中国特色社会主义
Digital capitalism is the concrete form of capitalist society's development in the digital information age. The production methods under digital capitalism have distinct characteristics of the times. From the perspective of laborers, the digital labor group has shown a clear expansion trend; from the perspective of labor tools, more intelligent and automated digital tools are increasingly popularized; from the perspective of labor objects, larger batches of digital information and the integrated format has gradually become the object of labor. Digital capitalism has undergone three stages of development. It is the burgeoning stage from 1946 to the mid-to-late 1980s. It is the stage of revolution of the Internet from the mid-to-late 1980s to the first decade of the 21st century. It is the stage of the revolution of the Internet of things from the first decade of the 21st century . Due to changes in production methods, new forms of labor, commodity forms, and forms of money, namely digital labor, information goods, and digital currencies, have emerged in the era of digital capitalism, and have caused widespread debate in the academic world. In the narrow sense, digital labor refers to the use of Internet tools to produce spiritual and cultural products, which is different from the traditional forms of labor. In a broad sense, it refers to all forms of labor that are included in the digital economic value chain. According to different classification criteria, digital labor can be divided into online labor and offline labor, paid labor and unpaid labor, or physical labor and non-physical labor, and the attributes of productive labor should also be affirmed. Information goods are information products used for exchange and are an important external manifestation of digital labor. Although information goods differs from the particularity of traditional material goods, it also has the use value and value, and has the conditions to become a commodity. Its value is still determined by the socially necessary labor time for producing and reproducing the commodity. Information goods come in two forms, as the final product and as a distribution tool, the two forms of information goods play different roles in the process of capital exploitation. Digital currency is also appearing along with the process of digitizing economic life. There are three forms of digital currency, one is the transaction currency of pure virtual mall, the other is the digital currency issued by the state, and the other is issued by private operators which has interoperability with common currency. The first currency is neither a currency nor a value symbol, and the other two currencies are value symbols with no value. The officially issued digital currency has the main function of money, and its development is the general trend; while the privately issued currency does not have a complete monetary function, and its development prospects are not optimistic due to issues such as credit sources. Under the support of digital information technology, the production process of surplus value in the digital capitalist era has also emerged with new features. First of all, the new technology has spawned a new mode of division of labor and cooperation. From the perspective of enterprises, enterprises have begun to adopt a "Central-Scatter" organizational structure. The organizational structure of “Central-Scatter” has two forms, one exists between core production enterprises and edge production enterprises, and one exists between platform enterprises and individuals or small and micro enterprises. The organizational structure of “Center-Scatter” has some obvious features, such as small, specialized, modular production methods, flat management, network, and continuous integration of business scope. From the perspective of total social production, The scope of the production process that promotes capital appreciation has expanded, and the labor of laborers such as mental workers, service workers, and prosumers should be further valued. Second, new technologies have driven the development of productivity. On the one hand, people's ability to use resources has increased. Due to the continuous upgrading of smart devices and more scientific management methods, people's utilization of information and natural resources has been increasing. On the other hand, due to the general improvement of workers' quality and the widespread use of digital tools, the labor productivity of enterprises is also increasing. Finally, capitalist applications of new technologies have increased the level of exploitation. From the point of view of the exploitation of absolute surplus value, the exploitation of absolute surplus value is improved because the new technology can make the labor of labor break through the fixed time limit, increase the labor intensity of labor and expand the exploitation area; In terms of exploitation methods, the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies will further shorten the necessary labor time and prolong the remaining labor time, so the exploitation of relative surplus value has also increased. In addition, the application of digital information technology has also led to the emergence of a large number of non-employed workers, who do not exist within the employment labor system, but in fact become the capitalist's tool for capital accumulation. The form of competition and the form of monopoly in the market of digital capitalism have also changed. In the market of the digital capitalism era, the emergence of multiple competition structures is the biggest feature. The multiple competition structure is composed of the hardware layer-platform layer-application layer. The competition between different industries and different layers affects each other, and the digital capitalists owned Internet companies have the greatest influence. In the era of digital capitalism, the competition strategy of enterprises has also changed. From the perspective of product behavior, enterprises will adopt infrastructure installation competition, product quality differentiation competition, construction of production alliances, intellectual property protection, and open customization mechanisms. From the perspective of price behavior, enterprises will adopt price adjustment strategies or price discrimination behaviors; from the perspective of marketing behavior, enterprises will adopt product mainstreaming strategies, marketing model coverage strategies, advertising innovations, and so on. From the perspective of the development trend of market monopoly level, there are situations in which the platform layer and above tend to monopolize and below the platform layer tends to compete in the multiple competition structure. Enterprises above the platform level will gradually expand in scale with production. Digital monopolies and digital monopoly capitalists will emerge which will continue to embezzle market share, monopolize monopoly profits, and prevent the formation of average profit margins. The deepening of the degree of exploitation in the era of digital capitalism and the emergence of digital monopoly capitalists can cause serious economic problems. First, several major capitalist countries with more developed digital economies have long been plagued by unemployment. Although the Internet has a positive effect on promoting employment, it cannot eliminate the existence of a relatively surplus population. The number of relative surplus population is due to the exclusion of labor, “creative destruction”, employment discrimination, and the existence of monopoly capitalism. In the long run, it will gradually expand. Secondly, the polarization of the era of digital capitalism has also been expanding, and its distribution system is extremely unequal. From the perspective of the distribution system of enterprises and labor, capitalists can embezzle a large amount of profits by virtue of the possession of means of production and the suppression of trade unions; from the perspective of the distribution system among enterprises, core enterprises can also obtain favorable distribution by virtue of private ownership. From the perspective of the international distribution system, capitalists use digital information technology to strengthen capital output and build a production system, trade system and financial system that are conducive to their own, thus further strengthening income inequality worldwide. It can be seen that the basic contradiction of capitalism has not disappeared because of the emergence of new technologies. Instead, it has further intensified. The contradiction between the large-scale production of socialized production and the private possession of production materials will continue to promote the emergence of economic crises. However, due to the difficulty in obtaining the technical power of the fixed capital renewal and the transfer crisis in the short term, capitalism has experienced the trend of de-cyclicalization and economic stagnation after the last economic crisis. Digital capitalism cannot save the capitalist system, its existence is historically temporary, but the productivity it makes creates conditions for the digital socialist system. The digital economy and the socialist system have strong compatibility and complement each other, and the use of the digital economy to develop socialism is also the social and economic development needs of the socialist countries, especially China. China currently has a good foundation for Internet development. Seizing the historical opportunities of digital economic development is not only an effective way to seize the commanding heights in international competition, but also the only way to move toward digital communism. Integrating the digital economy with socialism with Chinese characteristics and building digital socialism with Chinese characteristics needs to start from many aspects. First, we must improve the basic economic system that is compatible with the development of the digital economy.While enhancing the control and guidance of state-owned capital to the digital economy, we should give full play to the advantages of multiple ownership systems and attach great importance to intellectual property issues. Second, we must build a modern economic system that is compatible with the development of the digital economy. We should use the Internet to promote optimization industrial structure, construction of industrial Internet, enhancement of coordinated development and open development; Third, establish an employment system that is compatible with the development of the digital economy, train a group of high-quality digital labor, optimize the Internet employment platform, and promote the development of new employment models; Fourth, use digital information technology to improve the distribution system, strengthen digital infrastructure construction, gradually eliminate the “digital divide”, ban unreasonable income, use big data and other technologies to promote precision poverty alleviation; fifth, we must handle the relationship between the government and the market in the process of building digital socialism, actively promote e-government, enhance the vitality of the digital market, and use digital tools to optimize government regulation of the market. Key words: Digital Capitalism; Digital Labor; Information Commodities; Non-employed Labor; "Central-Scatter" Structure; Multiple Competitive Structures; Normalization of economic stagnation; Digital Socialism with Chinese Characteristics