Sign in

Alex Luke

@alexluke.bsky.social
876 followers 1.6K following 639 posts

Workplace linguistic ethnographer | Socialist & unionist - current USyd NTEU branch committee member | EAP teacher. "Capire. Per meglio colpire" - Tronti. They/he

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Alex Luke
LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Today, @katharinapistor.bsky.social explains how three features of our private law—private legal empowerment, decentralized access to the centralized means of coercion, and legal arbitrage—allow capitalists to circumvent public regulation.
lpeproject.org
Rewriting the Laws of Capitalism
When new constitutional orders came about in the 18th and 19th centuries, they left intact the private legal order that they inherited from feudalism, entrenching property rights and contracts as…
11611
Reposted by Alex Luke
Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Setting the "days since an Australian university admitted to wage theft" clock back to 0 news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2026/10...
news.flinders.edu.au
Flinders University acts to correct historical casual staff payments – News
Flinders University has identified shortfalls in historical minimum-engagement payments affecting some casual staff and is taking action to ensure affected current and former employees receive the […]
19726
Reposted by Alex Luke
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 11/10/2026
If you have been wondering why so many centrist dudes have been sneering and spitting at environmentalists on X for the past few weeks: ensuring that stuff like this doesn't face regulatory hurdles is a big part of why
220775
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Correction: none of the men did anything
010
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I found out today that Janna, the centre of this story, went to primary school with my son. We're all proud of her, but I am very disappointed that no one did anythin. I'm pretty sure this is one of the buses I get to work
120
Reposted by Alex Luke
Fiona Katauskas @fionakatauskas.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"There was a lot of men sitting right next to that man and they were just looking up and looking back down at their phones," she said. "No one helped her, which is really, really, really disappointing."
1012553
Reposted by Alex Luke
Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
485297777664
Reposted by Alex Luke
It's Going Down @igd.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Months after citing the phrase "Become Ungovernable" as evidence of a vast conspiracy by 15 anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis, the GOP hosted the Trump pardoned head of Silk Road, a darknet marketplace famous for drug trafficking + murder for hire plots, who spoke in front of the same slogan.
Speaker in front of "Become Ungovernable" in yellow on blue brick wall.
311243
Reposted by Alex Luke
Night of the Living Red Durkin @daedsider.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Periodic reminder that your "concerns" about trans people are being beamed directly into your head by a small cadre of incredibly rich psychopaths.
3945591520
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Just wait till we appropriate Gemma's house
010
Reposted by Alex Luke
Dr David S Anderson @dsaarchaeology.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
As an anthropologist, I endorse this message!
273207156674
Reposted by Alex Luke
Matthew Willis (Naval Air History) @navalairhistory.com · 07/06/2026
Reminder that The Guardian has a strategic partnership with OpenAI
29138
Reposted by Alex Luke
Bassano @bassano.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring will be shown in Osaka, later this year, and the press conference was as Japanese as you’d expect #Vermeer
A Japanese mascot dressed as Vermeer’s Girl With The Pearl Earring in front of a promotional poster for the same at a press conference in Japan
130198234939
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
so a form of stance-taking. Similar in some sense to Kiesling's 'cool solidarity'. Maybe his stance framework is useful?
010
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I haven't sadly, but this is an interesting question. It would seem to me to working as a form of informal modality
100
Reposted by Alex Luke
Lina Who Lina How Lina… (侯詠絮) @linasigns.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Has anyone published about the functions of “lowkey” as an adverb? Want some good references!
133
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I plan to write something more in-depth at some point (amongst other writing projects)
020
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
This was very much a first go at writing some things down as I just had to get it out of my head
120
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I think I would disambiguate this co-optation of tactics from the broader shift to a despotic regime. This co-optation is a deliberate tactic by Hasbarists against a briader backdrop of the dial moving from hegemonic (or I think I prefer 'constrained autonomy') to despotic
120
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I had to get something thoughts on repression of pro-Palestine speech on capus out of my head, so I wrote this lukestransmissionstoo.blogspot.com/2026/05/init...
lukestransmissionstoo.blogspot.com
Initial thoughts on the Palestine exception at work 2023-2026
The upcoming Sydney Staff for Palestine forum on repression of speech on campus (you should attend! more information here ) has got me thin...
021
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
There's a theory that says that the massive number of deaths in the Americas was a cause if the Little Ice Age in the 1600s, due to the sudden decline in CO2 in the atmosphere
110
Reposted by Alex Luke
Chrissy Stroop @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Richard Dawkins: Trans women aren't real Also Richard Dawkins: AIs are conscious and my Claude is a Claudia
7246481064
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Glad to have got that figure down from 90% though
020
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
It's a sad day when you realise 30-50% of your personality is unhealthy coping mechanisms
121
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I've been doing something similar for the past couple of years (I turn off notifications, and just check when I want to/remember), and it's the only way to live I think
120
Reposted by Alex Luke
Nina Markl 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @ninamarkl.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
🔔 new paper alert 🔔 Justine, Su Lin and I spent the last year and a half trying to understand how LLMs are being sold — what are their supposed ‘capabilities’? how are these measured? etc and, more importantly, what does all of this discursive work *do*? what kinds of world does it presuppose? 1/
1318
Reposted by Alex Luke
Grey Area @greyarea22.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
This is very true Unhappy about it? Time to organise...
153
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I'm a huge fan of Spectre Journal
spectrejournal.com
Beyond the Wage Relation – Spectre Journal
Hugo de Camps Mora challenges Vivek Chibber's fetishized account of materialism in favor of the broader and more expansive conception Marx argued for.
010
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Yes agree, but I'm not sure to what extent electoral politics can counter facism
010
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
It might be time for a nap soon :)
010
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
You call it procrastination, but I call it slow scholarship
131
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I agree this would be good but it is pure nostalgia. The conditions for such a form of life no longer exist, and never existed for anyone apart from a small number of people in countries like the USA. We need to dismantle capitalism entirely instead
031
Reposted by Alex Luke
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
idk i think it’s probably a best case scenario at this point that trump’s national law enforcement guy is so incompetent and intoxicated that he can’t even effectively oppress us
650380
Reposted by Alex Luke
Dan Hon @danhon.com · 16/04/2026
I legit think some of the belief and experience that the economy sucks is also sheer exhaustion from shit like this and notification fatigue and every single shitty tech-mediated interaction of which there are hundreds a day
1123336
Reposted by Alex Luke
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 07/04/2026
This article highlights something really important: it is absolutely bonkers how many massive, energy + water hungry data centres are being built in Sydney suburbs that are already subject to worsening climate impacts and heat island effects. They'll make both worse
thesaturdaypaper.com.au
Public unrest heats up over Western Sydney’s data centres
As the NSW government hastens approvals for large data centres, Western Sydney communities say their concerns about heat and health risks are being sidelined.
411853
Reposted by Alex Luke
Tim Dunlop @timdunlop.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Took 15-odd years for BRS to be charged, but at least Qld police got right onto that dude wearing a t-shirt
121857
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
honisoit.com/2026/03/staf...
honisoit.com
Staff posts on compulsory antisemitism training removed from university platform – Honi Soit
012
Reposted by Alex Luke
Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
this is truly excellent and important work
181087246
Reposted by Alex Luke
Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
a reminder that sora, like chatgpt, is a commercial product that can come and go like any other website, which is another reason why a lot of us remain critical of “AI” — and why we focus more on its political economy than its technological mechanisms
138290
Reposted by Alex Luke
Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Sat in Academic Board at my Uni yesterday where they congratulated themselves on rushing through a new Bachelor of AI, someone commented that “Marketing has warned us if we don’t get a named A.I. degree, we’ll be left behind by all the other universities”
1410021
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
I think everyone knew anyway but sometimes these things need to be done
020
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
I just came out as non-binary on the family group chat
140
Reposted by Alex Luke
Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
College writing teachers have spoken, y'all. The CCCC resolution affirming students' and teachers' right to refuse generative AI in the writing classroom passed by an overwhelming majority at the #4C26 Annual Business Meeting this past Friday, March 6. Link to the full resolution below.
"BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that we affirm the rights of students and teachers to refuse to sign up for, prompt, or otherwise use generative AI in the writing classroom."
6525159
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
When your own reference list places your work next to Marx 🥰
030
Reposted by Alex Luke
Dr Ingrid M🪁 @ingridm.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
almost as tho a system of government established by, for and of propertied white males is designed to serve the interests of propertied white males.
0399
Reposted by Alex Luke
Dr Ingrid M🪁 @ingridm.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
every single time these politicians say “keeping people safe” and “community safety” and “keep Australians safe” the context will tell you that colonised and racialised people are not fully human to them, and nor are women and children.
15114
Reposted by Alex Luke
Dr Ingrid M🪁 @ingridm.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
the Aust home affairs minister just told the ABC that meetings like one between Israeli President and Aust intelligence boss “happen all around the world” and “they keep people safe”. Which tells you who are considered “people” to our government.
58432
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Here's the abstract
Language as a "free gift"
Alex Luke

In this seminar I would like to try and show how specifying the relations between language and political economy can benefit from drawing on Marxian concepts of political economy. Determining the role of language in political economy has been an ongoing project in sociocultural linguistics (e.g. Block, 2018; Gal, 1989), seeking to overcome reified distinctions that separate language from political economy. I believe these distinctions are further erased when we look at language at the point of production rather than exchange, and by drawing on Marx's notion of the formal and real subsumption of labour. Language can, at the point of production, be seen as a form of labour in a Marxist sense, and thus able to be subsumed into capitalist labour and valorisation processes. I will examine how the formal and real subsumption of language and semiosis might work by drawing on Battisoni's recent extension of the notion of subsumption as the use of 'free gifts' of human social labour, in this case language, in processes of valorisation. Examples of language use in the development and use of large language models, as well as my own research on the discourse of performance management in organisations, will be used to illustrate the formal and real subsumption of language.
011
Alex Luke @alexluke.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I'm delivering an online research seminar next Friday 6 March 1-2pm AEDT with WSU. uws.zoom.us/j/8314940900... Meeting ID: 831 4940 9001 Password: 469673
uws.zoom.us
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.
120