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[...] The solution is to split living labour into two, and to assume that--alongside living labour as an expenditure of energy that will be partially consumed and crystallised into new machinery in the following cycle--there is a living labour that continues to exist as a means of production throughout the cycle. In other words, this living labour is not destroyed as an intermediate consumption. It is consumed as bodily energy, certainly, but it also develops as a means of production of living as living labour. It builds itself as a skill, as a know-how resistant to its reduction to pure human capital that can be objectified.
[...] Property rights are a body of social conventions and norms that permit the transformation of what is valuable for any given society, group or individual into an economic good capable of monetary valuation (price) or non-monetary valuation (donation), or of a market exchange (private goods) or non-profit exchange (public goods). [...]
Since it has to do with knowledge-goods, financialisation appears in a first phase to remove the obstacles that these present to their transformation into goods that are rival, divisible and excludable. But, in the era of the digital, it calls for the creation of enclosures by means of new property rights and digital management rights. These new enclosures have a depressive effect on the intensity and quality of innovation. The alternative strategies consist in the creation of new public spaces and conditions for free public access to the digital commons [...]
[...] The economy is not based on knowledge as such (although society itself is), but on the exploitation of knowledge. With the digital revolution [...] codified knowledge (databases, software) becomes information-goods and public knowledge. Economic models which since industrial capitalism have been based on the sale of them are in serious crisis: digitisation has drastically downgraded the old implementation of intellectual property rights, while the advantages gained in the field of codified knowledge are lasting for less and less time. [...]
The fact that the most characteristic commodities of cognitive capitalism are information- and knowledge-goods introduces an intrinsic factor of uncertainty that did not exist during the era of Fordism. The nature of these goods (their indivisibility, non-rivalry and non-excludability) makes them similar to public goods. This is a major challenge, because private ownership of such goods is the exception rather than the rule. On the other hand, digitisation and new information technology are eliminating the major obstacles to the violation of property rights.
It is rare that personality problems are the chief complaint of a patient presenting for treatment. Instead, difficulties with depression, anxiety, or external situations compel the patient into treatment. Personalitydisordered patients will often see the difficulties they encounter in dealing with other people as generally independent of their own behavior or input. They will frequently describe being victimized by others or, more globally, by “the system.” Such patients are apt to have little idea about how they got to be the way they are, how they contribute to their own problems, or how to change. Other patients are very much aware of the self-defeating elements of their problems (e.g., overdependence, inhibition, and excessive avoidance) but remain unaware of the personality aspects or the role of personal volition in change.
The typical dysfunctional beliefs and maladaptive strategies expressed in personality disorders make individuals susceptible to life experiences that impinge upon their cognitive vulnerability. Thus, the dependent personality disorder is characterized by a sensitivity to loss of love and help; the narcissistic by trauma to self-esteem; the histrionic by failure to manipulate others to provide attention and support. The cognitive vulnerability is based on beliefs that are extreme, rigid, and imperative. We speculate that these dysfunctional beliefs have originated as the result of the interaction between the individual’s genetic predisposition and exposure to undesirable influences from other people and specific traumatic events.
Among the basic components of the personality organization are sequences of different kinds of schemas that operate analogously to an assembly line. For purposes of simplification, these structures may be viewed as operating in a logical linear progression. For example, exposure to a dangerous stimulus activates the relevant “danger schema,” which begins to process the information. In sequence, then, the affective, motivational, action, and control schemas are activated. The person interprets the situation as dangerous (cognitive schema), feels anxiety (affective schema), wants to get away (motivational schema), and becomes mobilized to run away (action or instrumental schema). If the person judges that running away is counterproductive, he or she may inhibit this impulse (control schema).
In Axis I disorders, a specific mode becomes hypervalent and leads, for example, to preoccupation with loss, danger, or combat. In the case of depression, a chain reaction is set up: cognitive → affective → motivational → motor. In personally meaningful situations, the interpretation and the affect feed into the “effector loop” or action system. For instance, after her interpreting a rejection, a sad expression would sweep across Sue’s face. This process, which occurred automatically, might have served phylogenetically as a form of communication—as a distress signal, for example. Concomitantly, “action schemas” were triggered: Her own particular strategy for dealing with rejection was activated, and she experienced an impulse to go into the next room and ask Tom to reassure her. She was mobilized to act according to her stereotyped strategy. At this point, she might or might not yield to her impulse to run to Tom.
Self-appraisals and self-evaluations are important methods by which people can determine whether they are “on course.” Whereas selfappraisal may simply represent observations of the self, self-evaluation implies making value judgments about the self: good–bad, worthwhile– worthless, lovable–unlovable. Negative self-evaluations are found overtly in depression but may operate in a more subtle fashion in most of the personality disorders.
In normal functioning, this system of self-evaluations and self-directions operates more or less automatically. People may not be aware of these self-signals unless they specifically focus their attention on them. These cognitions may then be represented in a particular form labeled “automatic thoughts” (Beck, 1967). As noted earlier, these automatic thoughts become hypervalent in depression, and they are expressed in notions such as “I am worthless” or “I am undesirable.”
The self-evaluations and self-instructions appear to be derived from deeper structures: namely, the self-concepts or self-schemas. In fact, exaggerated negative (or positive) self-concepts may be the factors that move a person from being a “personality type” into having a “personality disorder.” For example, the development of a rigid view of the self as helpless may move a person from experiencing normal dependency wishes in childhood to “pathological” dependency in adulthood. Similarly, an emphasis on systems, control, and order may predispose a per- son to a personality disorder in which the systems become the master instead of the tool—namely, obsessive–compulsive personality disorder.
Even though this disorder is not included in DSM-IV-TR, we have found that a significant number of patients have behaviors and beliefs indicative of this disorder. Individuals with passive–aggressive personality disorder have an oppositional style, which belies the fact that they do want to get recognition and support from authority figures. The chief problem is a conflict between their desire to get the benefits conferred by authorities on the one hand and their desire to maintain their autonomy on the other. Consequently, they try to maintain the relationship by being passive and submissive, but, as they sense a loss of autonomy, they are inclined to resist or even to subvert the authorities.
Self-view: They may perceive themselves as self-sufficient but vulnerable to encroachment by others. (They are, however, drawn to strong figures and organizations because they crave social approval and sup-port. Hence, they are frequently in a conflict between their desire for attachment and their fear of encroachment.)
View of others: They see others—specifically, the authority figures— as intrusive, demanding, interfering, controlling, and dominating, but at the same time capable of being approving, accepting, and caring.
Beliefs: Their core beliefs have to do with notions such as “Being controlled by others is intolerable,” “I have to do things my own way,” or “I deserve approval because of all I have done.”
Their conflicts are expressed in beliefs such as “I need authority to nurture and support me” versus “I need to protect my identity.” (The same kind of conflicts are often expressed by borderline patients.) The conditional belief is expressed in terms such as “If I follow the rules, I lose my freedom of action.” Their instrumental beliefs revolve around postponing action that is expected by an authority, or complying superficially but not substantively.
Threat: The main threat or fears revolve around loss of approval and abridgement of autonomy.
Strategy: Their main strategy is to fortify their autonomy through devious opposition to the authority figures while ostensibly courting the favor of the authorities. They try to evade or circumvent the rules in a spirit of covert defiance. They are often subversive in the sense of not getting work done on time, not attending classes, and so on—ultimately self-defeating behavior. Yet, on the surface, because of their need for approval, they may seem to be compliant and cultivate the goodwill of the authorities. They often have a strong passive streak. They tend to follow the line of least resistance; they often avoid competitive situations and are interested more in solitary pursuits.
Affect: Their main affect is unexpressed anger, which is associated with rebellion against an authority’s rules. This affect, which is conscious, alternates with anxiety when they anticipate reprisals and are threatened with cutting off of “supplies.”
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