A Political Economics Analysis of Data Participation in Capitalism

Nowadays, as the development of science and technology promotes the continuous change of the force of production, data is becoming an increasingly important production factor that is deeply involved in the process of production, circulation, distribution and consumption in capitalist society. This study aims to explore the application of data in capitalist production and its implications. We analyzes the data from the labor process and the process of producing surplus value, from which it is concluded that the application of data in the general production process does not deviate from the category of the “Labor Theory of Value”. In addition, we distinguish the performance of data in the four links of surplus value production, realization, distribution and redistribution, thereby illustrating the positive role of data in the capitalist economy. We also identify changes in the value composition caused by data.