Labour and Assymetric Power Relations in Global Value Chains: The digital entertainment industries and beyond

Citation

Thompson P, Parker R & Cox S (2015) Labour and Assymetric Power Relations in Global Value Chains: The digital entertainment industries and beyond. In: Newsome K, Taylor P, Bair J & Rainnie A (eds.) Putting Labour in its Place: Labour Process Analysis and Global Value Chains. Critical Perspectives on Work and Employment. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 45-63. http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/putting-labour-in-its-place-kirsty-newsome/?K=9781137410351

Abstract
The chapter draws on research that situates development studios - games and visual effects (VFX) - in the global value chain, concerned with issues of control and value capture faced by small and medium-sized producers of digital entertainment products. In the context of the relevant industries, it shows how mainstream global value chain (GVC) perspectives are unable to deal with asymmetric power relations between capitals and between capital and labour. A preliminary model of value and power dynamics is developed that goes beyond complexity of information exchange, codifiability and competence of the supplier base (cf. Gereffi et al., 2005), in part by incorporating labour power - value inputs, agency and impacts - more fully into the framework. The chapter is, therefore, a contribution both to developing less workplace-centric versions of labour process theory and exploring it compatibility with value chain models that have a more radical intent restored.