New Books Network Robert Dorschel, "The Social Codes of Tech Workers: Class Identity in Digital Capitalism" (MIT Press, 2025)
Jan 20, 2026
Robert Dorschel, an Assistant Professor in Digital Sociology at the University of Cambridge, delves into the intricacies of tech workers' lives in his new book. He defines who counts as a tech worker and contrasts their evolving identities with traditional entrepreneurial roles. Dorschel discusses their critical awareness of the industry, class perceptions, and how they navigate capitalism. Also explored are their ordinary lifestyles and the commodification of their critiques by firms, highlighting tech workers as a unique and influential class fraction.
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Who Counts As A Tech Worker
- Tech workers are professionals who program, design, and manage digital technologies and hold middle/upper-middle class wages and control over work processes.
- They differ from entrepreneurs and precarious gig workers by occupying a distinct backstage jurisdiction in digital capitalism.
Entrepreneurial Self Versus Tech Subjectivity
- The entrepreneurial self (market-oriented, flexible, career-as-venture) is a common ideal in post-Fordist white-collar studies.
- Dorschel investigates whether tech workers embody that entrepreneurial self or a distinct subjectivity.
Tech Workers' Class-Based Critique
- Many tech workers hold a class-based, critical worldview and see society as economically polarized despite high incomes.
- They label themselves 'tech workers' and emphasize social critique, reflective data practices, and skepticism toward grand techno-solutionism.
