Labor, Capital, and Machine: Toward a Labor Process Theory for HCI

Paper Title

Labor, Capital, and Machine: Toward a Labor Process Theory for HCI

Publication Info

• Topic area: Integration of Labor Process Theory (LPT) into Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research to analyze labor dynamics under capitalism.
• Keywords: Labor Process Theory, HCI, capitalism, workplace technologies, value production, control, resistance, political economy.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: HCI research has historically focused on improving workplace efficiency and worker experience but has inadequately addressed the structural labor-capital dynamics and mechanisms of exploitation in capitalist workplaces.
• Significance: Understanding labor-capital relations is critical for designing technologies that do not perpetuate exploitation, deskilling, or alienation, especially as AI and automation reshape work.
• Motivation and related work: While HCI has explored themes like invisible labor, platform work, and emotional labor, it has rarely engaged systematically with labor theory or analyzed how technologies mediate value extraction and control in the workplace. Labor Process Theory (LPT) provides a structural framework to address these gaps.

Solution

• Proposed approach: Introduce Labor Process Theory (LPT) as a framework for analyzing labor-capital relations and the role of technology in capitalist workplaces within HCI research.
• Novelty:
  1. Reframe the labor process as a critical site of analysis in HCI, linking technology design to surplus value extraction and managerial control.
  2. Review HCI literature through the lens of LPT, identifying gaps and proposing a research agenda for labor-oriented studies.
  3. Highlight mechanisms like deskilling, control, and consent to analyze workplace technologies.
  4. Propose actionable directions for HCI, including studying management, linking work to value production, and designing alternative institutions.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Trace the development of LPT from Marx to contemporary scholars.
  • Conduct a semi-systematic review of 313 HCI papers on labor-related topics.
  • Analyze themes like control, resistance, emotional labor, and invisible work using LPT concepts.
  • Propose a future research agenda for HCI, emphasizing structural analysis and design interventions.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Identified 313 relevant HCI papers, with themes including control mechanisms (e.g., algorithmic management), worker resistance, emotional labor, and invisible work.
  • Highlighted gaps in HCI research, such as insufficient attention to value production, managerial labor, and consent mechanisms.
  • Proposed a framework distinguishing labor (value production) from work (use-value production) to deepen HCI analyses.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • LPT provides a structural, explanatory framework that complements HCI’s descriptive and interventionist approaches, enabling analysis of systemic mechanisms like surplus value extraction and control.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Semi-systematic literature review of HCI research on labor, focusing on themes, methods, and gaps.
  • Application of LPT concepts to critique and expand existing HCI approaches.
• Limitations and future work:
  • The review is illustrative rather than exhaustive, limited to publications up to November 2025.
  • Future work includes applying LPT to study global production networks, labor markets, and alternative institutional designs.

Summary

This paper introduces Labor Process Theory (LPT) to HCI as a framework for analyzing labor-capital dynamics and the role of technology in capitalist workplaces. It identifies gaps in HCI research, such as insufficient attention to value production and managerial control, and proposes a research agenda emphasizing structural analysis and design interventions. By linking work practices to surplus value extraction and managerial strategies, LPT offers HCI a deeper understanding of workplace technologies and their implications for labor. The paper calls for designing technologies that mitigate exploitation, support worker agency, and imagine alternative institutions beyond capitalist constraints.