No detailed examination of the theoretical basis

Failure to reflect on applicability in platform economy

Sort out and analyze the emergence, development and controversy

Understand the theoretical connotation and theoretical limits

Better conduct our own research on the political economy of Internet platforms

origin

Basic logic (picture)

defect

origin

basic logic

Kang Xianjin and Matthew McAllister

Mickey Lee

Alan Fisher

Rozelle

A comprehensive examination of production relations in social media platforms

In social media, users realize the unity of producers and consumers in terms of identity, and are dual objects of commodification.

Social media platforms take ownership of data commodities with the help of Terms of Use and Privacy Policies and sell them to advertisers at a profit

Surveillance is an inherent feature of the capital accumulation model of social media platforms

Skipping the question: What kind of activity can be called ‘labor’? Is it feasible to take it for granted that all activities are regarded as labor?

We have found the wrong real production subject of "data commodities" (the purpose of human labor), and failed to correctly reveal the production relations in social media platforms.

There is no clearer definition of "Internet prosumer goods". Does it refer to the user itself as a commodity? Or does it refer to "audience power" in Smythe's sense? Or "audience attention"?

There is a "logical cycle" in the theory itself

Abuse of universal connections between things

It is difficult to get rid of the dependence on the logical cycle path of "audience commodity - audience labor"

We should not blindly copy the theoretical logic and theoretical perspectives of the “audience commodity theory” of communication political economy.

Return to the basic theories and methods of Marxist political economy

① [Canada] Nick Srnicek: "Platform Capitalism", translated by Cheng Shuiying, Guangzhou: Guangdong People's Publishing House, 2018, p. 49.

One of the founders of the school of communication political economics, he proposed the prototype of the "audience commodity theory" in the 1950s, and formally proposed a systematic "communication" in his 1977 paper "Communication: Blind Spots of Western Marxism" Audience Commodity Theory”.

It begins with reflections on the blind spots in Western Marxist research: “The analysis of Western Marxists ignores the political and economic significance of the mass communication system...Marxists and those radical social critics who invoke Marxist terminology often Locating the significance of the mass communication system in its ability to produce 'ideology', they believe that ideology, the invisible 'glue', enables capitalism to become a whole... However, for Marxists In short, this explanation is unsatisfactory.

Scholars of communication political economics have widely used the classic analytical framework of “audience commodity theory” proposed by Dallas Smythe, treating the Internet platform as a new communication medium to conduct critical research on political economy. The "audience commodity theory" makes "audience" or "user" an active subject in the platform economy, opening up a unique theoretical perspective for the study of the political economy of Internet platforms.

Revising Dallas Smythezheng’s “Audience Commodity Theory”

If viewed from a media perspective, "what the media sells to advertisers is viewing time," so the essence of the "audience product" produced by mass media and sold to advertisers is a "viewing time product." In their theory, the audience no longer performs marketing labor for advertisers, but performs "viewing labor" for the media. This labor produces "viewing time commodities" that can be appropriated by the mass media. The mass media Viewing time merchandise” is sold to advertisers to obtain residual value.

Google has achieved widespread and transformative commoditization of users through omnidirectional surveillance. In the Google platform, not only users are commoditized, but also various components of users, including their activity data, aggregate awareness (keyword trends), and social relationships. Compared with traditional media, Google's comprehensive monitoring of users through interactive technology has strengthened the level of user commercialization.

Reflected in his book Digital Labor and Karl Marx