The Limits of Peer Production
Notes
- Comparatively ephemeral peer
networks simply cannot concentrate and consistently deploy the resources that bureauc- racies can with their goal-oriented routines, professionalized staff, and stable operating procedures.
- Weber was clear on
this point, arguing that ‘precision, speed, unambiguity, knowledge of the files, conti- nuity, discretion, unity, strict subordination, reduction of friction, and of material and personal costs – these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic admin- istration’ (1998: 214). Indeed, it was these very qualities that Weber both admired and feared as the inescapable implements of the rational-legal order. Yet, the noted absence of these qualities in peer production efforts suggests that informational projects may face serious limitations in some social domains, unless they adopt more formalized structures.
- Rather, we wish to stress that peer production
is not as radically open in practice as it appears. Gatekeepers can subscribe to opaque governing norms and all too often these norms reinforce broader social patterns of dis- crimination and power.
- Looking at peer production through the lens of Weber, however, suggests that these
peer governance mechanisms may not be as liberating as many theorists suggest. The absence of formal rules, for instance, allows charismatic individuals to determine who is appointed or dismissed according to fiat.
- Yet many contemporary portrayals of peer production fail to account for the ongoing
importance of bureaucratic institutions in fostering and preserving knowledge that actually affords peer production. Indeed, Shirky (2008) argues for the power of ‘organiz- ing without organizations’ while ignoring the role that the university plays in his own analysis
- Moreover, precisely because it is voluntary and
usually temporary, peer production may not support the institutions upon which its own continued success depends
- Peer production in particular may undermine our private autonomy by extending
our professional lives into formerly private arenas.
- For many scholars peer production enables individuals to achieve a form of psychological Wholeness unavailable in ordinary organizational life