Proletarianization, Deproletarianization, and the Rise of the Amateur

In this article, I present the three forms of proletarianization found in Bernard Stiegler's work: the proletarianization of the producer, the proletarianization of the consumer, and generalized proletarianization. In the lectures included in this special issue, Stiegler refers to the proletarianization of sensibility, which belongs to this last form of proletarianization. I attempt to contextualize this new work in relation to Stiegler's past work on political economy, as well as some of his political positions about capitalism as a social organization. I explain where the notion of proletarianization gets muddled, and I also compare his position on new forms of capitalism to the influential work of André Gorz. Following Stiegler, I call the underlying political project of deproletarianization that he has developed “protentional politics.” I turn more specifically to the underdiscussed notion of “tertiary protention” and question its place in Stiegler's thought. Finally, I also explain why Stiegler's turn to the figure of the amateur, especially in the third lecture in this issue, is strategic in thinking of deproletarianizing practices.