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7. Labor in the network society: lessonsfrom Silicon ValleyChris BennerDuring the dramatic Internet-driven boom of the 1990s, Silicon Valley wasdescribed as the home of “the greatest-ever legal creation of wealth in thehistory of the world.” 1 For the young entrepreneurs, engineers, andcomputer professionals who benefited from abundant job offers, high wages,and sky-rocketing stock options during this time, Silicon Valley offeredseemingly limitless opportunities for economic prosperity. By 2003,however, conditions for workers in the region had radically changed. Stockprices crashed, making most stock options worthless, while in the space ofonly two years, more than 18 percent of total jobs in the Valley disappearedand average pay declined by an astonishing 22 percent (JV: SVN, 2003;Sylvester, 2003).A survey in June 2003 found that more than a quarter of all workers in theregion had been laid off in the previous two years, and that nearly 35 percentof families had at least one person in their household out of work for morethan three months during that time (Steen, 2003; Sylvester, 2003). Softwareprogrammers and web designers, who three years previously had beencomplacent in their secure futures at the core of rapidly expanding globalsoftware and Internet industries, were now found in the streets of SanFrancisco, protesting against the global outsourcing of their highly skilledjobs, which they feared threatened their future and very livelihood(Asaravala, 2003; Shinal, 2003).Many workers and analysts in the region have been surprised at this rapidchange of fortune. In reality, however, the volatility of the past three yearsmerely continues (in perhaps a more extreme way) the pattern of insecurityand volatility that has characterized work and employment in SiliconValley’s information technology industries for at least the past thirty years.As the information technology industries that have dominated the region’seconomy for the past half-century have developed, evolved, and grownthroughout the globe, rapidly changing technology, volatile competitiveconditions, and constantly shifting skill requirements have led employers toplace a high premium on labor flexibility. As a result, employment in the174