Global iPhone Local Labour: Exploring ICT Production, Labour and Cultural Production

Abstract

A theory of value pertinent to the contemporary iPhone era focuses on formal and informal labour circuits. This study extends this framework by examining a labour dispute in an iPhone factory near Bangalore, delving into its dissemination through media and the broader critical political economy surrounding the recent iPhone production in India. Furthermore, it incorporates a geographical perspective into the circuit framework to illustrate the movement of capital and labour in Bangalore, rekindling discussions on core–periphery dynamics in the context of capital and labour migration. Further, this research builds upon the typography of worker-generated content by illustrating a specific category of such content within the iPhone labour dispute. Utilising a critical political economy of media approach, this article aims to assess the broader implications of the updated framework and to open new avenues for research within the emerging field of information communication technologies, cultural production and labour.