Platform capitalism

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Platform capitalism ( also digital capitalism or digital economy) is a social science term that characterizes a new type of capitalism in which platform companies are dominant economic actors. These platforms include Google , Facebook , Amazon , Uber and Airbnb . The acronym GAFA is used to summarize Google, Apple , Facebook, Amazon. The three dominant Chinese platforms Baidu , Alibaba and Tencent have accordingly been designated as BAT.

Platform capitalism describes a new digital economic order in which platforms act as middlemen ("intermediaries") to bring together supply and demand in the market. They control access to goods and the processes of the respective business model.

According to blogger and media consultant Sascha Lobo , who introduced the concept of platform capitalism in German-speaking countries in 2014, they strive for power in order to “set and control industry standards” through market dominance and “stage every economic transaction as an auction - including the cost of labor. "

At the 2015 German Consumer Day, Harald Welzer pointed out the negative consequences of platform capitalism, which monetizes social intelligence and practiced social practices, but hardly creates jobs itself. The term found its way into the basic program for the digital society of the SPD in December 2015. Nick Srnicek presented the first theoretical description with Platform Capitalism 2016.

See also

literature

  • Andrew McAfee , Erik Brynsjolfsson: Machine Platform Crowd - Harnessing our Digital Future . WW Norton & Company, New York / London 2017, ISBN 978-0-393-25429-7 .
  • Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Sangeet Paul Choudary: Platform Revolution - How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy - And How to Make Them Work for You . WW Norton & Company, New York / London 2016, ISBN 978-0-393-35435-5 .
  • Nick Srnicek: Platform Capitalism . Polity Press, Cambridge, Malden 2016, ISBN 978-1-5095-0487-9 .
  • Philipp Staab : Digital Capitalism. Market and domination in the economy of scarcity. Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-518-07515-9 .
  • Timo Daum: We are the capital. On the criticism of the digital economy. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-96054-058-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Beschorner, Caspar Hirschi : Bastion of Democracy. In: time online. February 24, 2018. (zeit.de)
  2. ↑ Philipp Staab and Florian Butollo: Digital Capitalism - How China Challenges Silicon Valley. Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2018. (library.fes.de)
  3. ↑ Sascha Lobo: On the way to the dumping hell . In: Spiegel Online . September 3, 2014 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 10, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Heike Jahrberg: Sharing Economy: Curse or Blessing? In: Der Tagesspiegel. June 29, 2015. (tagesspiegel.de)
  5. ↑ #DigitalLeben - SPD basic program for the digital society. Resolved at the Ordinary Federal Party Congress in Berlin from 10. – 12. December 2015. (spd.de , accessed on March 10, 2018)