Desvendando o prosumption: o produtor-consumidor no movimento do capital

Abstract

In the development route of capitalist production relations, technological advancement has engendered different ways of living and producing. With the recent changes, scientific research in the Administration field has highlighted the ways in which the consumers have been involved in the production relations, either by participating directly in the co-production of the products and services they consume, or by producing creative content or data that can be used for the profitability of certain companies. In this context, discussions about prosumption have emerged, treated as the union of the consumption and production activities. The discussion about prosumption becomes even more complex when one takes into account the recent expansion movement of commerce and sociability mediated by digital platforms. Seeking to go beyond the predecessor studies that dealt with the topic, we analyzed the prosumption based on the theory of value, supported by the Marxian critique of political economy. Thus, we expose how consumer-producer activities are integrated with the dynamics of capitalist accumulation. Looking at the prosumption phenomenon allowed us to apprehend both: the advance of capital on the commodification of social relations, in which activities that generate natural-social forces are transformed into commodities and inserted in exchange processes; and the greater potential for exploitation of the working class, through the transfer of labor, necessary for production and realization of value, to the consumer.