Platform capitalism: The intermediation and capitalisation of digital economic circulation

Abstract

A new form of digital economic circulation has emerged, wherein ideas, knowledge, labour and use rights for otherwise idle assets move between geographically distributed but connected and interactive online communities. Such circulation is apparent across a number of digital economic ecologies, including social media, online marketplaces, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding and other manifestations of the so-called ‘sharing economy’. Prevailing accounts deploy concepts such as ‘co-production’, ‘prosumption’ and ‘peer-to-peer’ to explain digital economic circulation as networked exchange relations characterised by their disintermediated, collaborative and democratising qualities. Building from the neologism of platform capitalism, we place ‘the platform’ – understood as a distinct mode of socio-technical intermediary and business arrangement that is incorporated into wider processes of capitalisation – at the centre of the critical analysis of digital economic circulation. To create multi-sided markets and coordinate network effects, platforms enrol users through a participatory economic culture and mobilise code and data analytics to compose immanent infrastructures. Platform intermediation is also nested in the ex-post construction of a replicable business model. Prioritising rapid up-scaling and extracting revenues from circulations and associated data trails, the model performs the structure of venture capital investment which capitalises on the potential of platforms to realise monopoly rents.

Postcapitalist precarious work and those in the ‘drivers’ seat: Exploring the motivations and lived experiences of Uber drivers in Canada

“…We suggest that digital ecosystems summon-up not only the popular passions and interests of the 'platformed masses' (Lovink & Tkacz, 2015, p. 14) but also their popular insecurities and precariousness. Although platforms facilitate employment opportunities for the under-employed and unemployed, it is no secret that they have been subject to considerable critique for their perceived role in the degradation of work and working conditions (see Friedman, 2014;Langley & Leyshon, 2017). Platforms bolster the 'gig' economy, providing a new outlet for short-term, casual or zero-hour contracts.…”

“…Platforms have become a resilient feature of the global economic landscape (Langley & Leyshon, 2017). Platform capitalism emphasizes the intermediary logic and infrastructure of the 'platform,' a discrete and dynamic combination of socio-technical and capitalist business practices (van Dijck, 2013).…”

“…The network is comprised of buyers and sellers who seemingly operate as equals in these transactions, whereas past such exchanges were marred by power and information asymmetries, favoring the seller (Langley & Leyshon, 2017). Emphasized by Marxian political underpinnings, these models shift the focus from an economy of ownership to one of access, while still functioning within a capitalist frame (Kassan & Orsi, 2012).…”

Urban living laboratories: Conducting the experimental city?

“…This platform disposition relies not on determining socio-material relations, but on creating the conditions in which multiple new socio-material relations and arrangements can be leveraged. Ureta (2016) It is from these forms of interaction and circulation that the laboratory seeks to capture value and improve the urban condition (Langley & Leyshon 2016).…”

Ploughing digital landscapes: How Facebook influences the evolution of live video streaming

“…Firsfarit observed in broadcasting media that such influence has become more and more evident in digital media with the rise of the so-called 'platform economy' (Kenney and Zysman, 2016) or the 'platform capitalism' (Langley and Leyshon, 2016;Srnicek, 2017). Colonising growing shares of Internet communications, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have progressively disciplined the initial spontaneity of online exchanges (Taylor, 2014;Wu, 2010).…”