(Dis)embodied Labour?: Assessing the Body under Capitalism in William Gibson’s Neuromancer

Science fiction writer William Gibson is widely recognised for revolutionising the field as he is often considered to be the father of the sub-genre called cyberpunk. He had a significant cultural impact and his seminal novel Neuromancer has been lauded for the use of ‘cyberspace.’ The concept of ‘cyberspace’ posits the notion of disembodiment, which postulates the probable dissolution of the duality between the mind and the body and the subsequent transgression of this binary. It promises a space beyond the mortal flesh, but it also reinstates the power relations that we get to experience in the real world. The novel offers an insight into transgressions of the limitations of the flesh; however, in Gibson’s narrative there seems to be no overcoming the relentless assault of capitalism onto the bodies. In other words, the power relations of the real world are also implicated in the virtual space of Neuromancer’s characters. This article will look into disembodied labour and how the body of the worker becomes the site that the capitalists manipulate and control for their own profit, and almost always at the expense of the well-being of the worker.