Not leaving the factory

Subjectivity trapped in the age of digital capitalism

Abstract

This essay analyzes the transformation of exploitation within contemporary capitalism, from the Taylorist model to the digital economy and algorithmic management. Throughout the 20th century, productive systems sought to capture human energy—first physical, then subjective—subordinating workers to new forms of control. Fordism offered mass consumption and social protection as compensation for exploitation, while Toyotism shifted the pressure toward forced participation and subjective control. Today, digital and viral capitalism intensifies exploitation by capturing data and emotions, further precarizing women, migrants, and racialized workers. Platform economies and algorithmic management turn customers into value producers and reinforce self-exploitation. In this context, the notion of an economy of subjective exploitation becomes central to understand how subjectivity itself is transformed into both a source of value and a tool of domination. However, work remains a space of struggle and collective creation. Reimagining it as a site of emancipation is crucial in face of a system that, although lacking visible chains, continues to entrap bodies and subjectivities.