Platform Capitalism

Author: Nick Srnicek (2016) Publisher: Polity Press

A concise and influential analysis of how digital platforms have become the dominant form of capitalist enterprise in the 21st century. Srnicek identifies five types of platforms (advertising platforms, cloud platforms, industrial platforms, product platforms, and lean platforms) and analyzes how they capture and monetize data as a new form of capital. He argues that “platform capitalism” is a structural feature of contemporary economies, not merely a series of individual corporate decisions.

Srnicek’s framework provides essential political economy context for the Network Nations diagnosis of “corporate platform sovereigns.” Understanding how platforms extract value from social activity, create network-effect monopolies, and govern their user populations through algorithmic systems is necessary background for understanding why commons-based alternatives are needed.

Referenced in: Ep 9