Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: At the same time as brands and branding dominate our contemporary mode of capitalism, brands also claim an ethical position based on a critique of their competitors (Lury, 2004;Arvidsson, 2006).This paper hopes to contribute to the understanding of 'ethical brands' from an autonomist Marxist perspective by showing that, although ethical claims do not offer a way out of capitalism, they do begin to assemble an alternative mode of production.The autonomist concepts of 'exodus ' and 'refusal' (Tronti, 2007;Virno, 1996) are employed to provide a frame for action across different ethical bases, and beyond the production of commodities.This frame is applied to two examples: Molleindustria's app Phone Story (2012) and the Diaspora social media project (2010present).In their own ways, these projects critique existing modes of production and offer pathways to alternative practices.* The authors would like to thank the editorial team for their generous feedback, and numerous colleagues for guiding this article towards publication.We would particularly like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments, which we believe have improved the article immensely.
Authors: Robert David Ewan Fordyce, Luke van Ryn
Institution: The University of Melbourne
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2182659516