Behind, through and beyond capitalist platforms

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.16.2.0099
• Published date: 17 October 2022
• Date: 17 October 2022
• Pages: 99-118
• Author: Mariano Zukerfeld
• Subject Matter: Work,labour,platforms,informational capitalism,cognitive capitalism,digital capitalism,prosumers,gig labour,informational goods,non-capitalist platforms

Work organisation, labour & globalisation Volume 16, Number 2, 2022 99

Behind, through and beyond

capitalist platforms

Platformisation of work and labour in

informational capitalism

Mariano Zukerfeld

Mariano Zukerfeld is a Researcher in the Science

Technology and Society Centre, at CONICET (Argentinian

National Scientific and Technical Research Council) and

Maimónides University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ABSTRACT

This article aims to put forward an overarching typology of platform-related

work. First, it places the platformisation of productive processes within a

characterisation of informational capitalism. Then it proceeds by distinguishing

between work

behind

and

through

capitalist platforms. The former refers to the

informational, industrial and service work and workers who keep the platforms

up and running. The greater part of the article is devoted to discussing the

latter. This second category is further divided into three sub-categories of work

and workers: ‘gig labour’, ‘prosumers’ and ‘self-employed owners’. Finally,

platform work and labour

beyond

capitalist platforms are addressed, with

a further sub-typology. Here, three types of beyond-capitalist platforms are

identied: co-ops, commons-based peer production and state-owned agencies.

KEY WORDS

Work, labour, platforms, informational capitalism, cognitive capitalism, digital

capitalism, prosumers, gig labour, informational goods, non-capitalist platforms

Introduction

Platforms are increasingly shaping work and labour relations all over the world.

Although many insightful analyses of this emerging tendency have been published,

most of them tend to fall short regarding three connected issues. First, platformisation

is not frequently framed by a narrative that clearly distinguishes stages of capitalism

and periods within these stages. Even if stages and periods are distinguished, this is

DOI:10.13169/workorgalaboglob.16.2.0099

100 Work organisation, labour & globalisation Volume 16, Number 2, 2022

usually done by resorting to technological, political or economic determinisms. Second,

although sound typologies have been developed of platform work and labour, they have

been mainly focused on a particular subset of platforms, that is platforms where the

activities carried out by workers can be easily accommodated to the traditional notion

of work. However, other platforms where new forms of work are emerging are barely

looked upon as such. Third, and more importantly, typologies of platform work and

labour tend to sideline non-capitalist platforms.

In this context, the objective of this article is threefold. First, it attempts to analyse

the platformisation of productive processes relating to the rise and development of

informational capitalism as the third stage of capitalism and defined as a totality.

Additionally, it intends to relate the upsurge in platform work and labour to the second

phase of informational capitalism. Second, it aims to put forward an overarching

typology of platform-related work, starting by distinguishing between work behind and

work through capitalist platforms. Third, it intends to briefly discuss platform work and

labour beyond capitalist platforms, distinguishing three varieties: co-ops, commons-

based peer production (CBPP) and state-owned agencies.

The remainder of this article is structured as follows. The second section

characterises informational or cognitive capitalism (Castells, 1996; Vercellone, 2011;

Boutang, 2011; Fuchs, 2010).

The third section discusses the types of work and labour that are subsumed under

capitalist platforms. On the one hand, there are three types of through-the-platform

workers: gig labour, prosumers and self-employed owners. On the other hand, there are

several types of work behind the platforms: in-house or outsourced development of

software and hardware, infrastructure, human resources, marketing, logistics and

warehouse work.

However, platformisation of work and labour does not need to be confined to

capitalist environments. Work through and behind platforms might well be – and

already is – performed beyond capitalist firms. Thus, the fourth section intends to

present some examples of this non-capitalist platformisation, by briefly discussing

platforms run by three types of organisations: co-operatives, commons-based peer

production and state agencies. Finally, the sixth section offers some concluding

remarks.

Informational capitalism and its distinctive features

Capitalism can be analytically divided into three stages: mercantile capitalism, which

ranges approximately from the mid-15th century to the end of the 18th; industrial

capitalism, which covers the period from the end of the 18th century up to the third

quarter of the 20th century and informational capitalism, whose beginning can be

approximately dated in the 1970s and which continues to this day (Castells, 1996;

Fuchs, 2010; Boutang, 2011; Zukerfeld, 20171).

I believe that two phases within informational capitalism must be distinguished: the

phase of networks, which lasted from the 1970s to the 2000s and the phase of platforms,

1 Certainly, periodisation of capitalism is a contested topic and this particular periodisation is far from being

the dominant one in post-modern academia.