Sharing-economy platforms fuse data extraction with labor at unprecedented scale

Evidence

The argument of this book is that, with a long decline in manufacturing profitability, capitalism has turned to data as one way to maintain economic growth and vitality in the face of a sluggish production sector. In the twenty-first century, on the basis of changes in digital technologies, data have become increasingly central to firms and their relations with workers, customers, and other capitalists. The platform has emerged as a new business model, capable of extracting and controlling immense amounts of data, and with this shift we have seen the rise of large monopolistic firms. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 17 (#expands, via linked claim)

We are concerned here with the annexation to capital of life processes whether or not they are labor, evidenced when many of the life streams from which data is extracted for value are not seen by those involved as part of any productive activity. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 143 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Data analytics progressed from describing internal data to prescribing every process and behavior — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 79; Falling manufacturing profits drove capitalism toward data extraction via platform monopolies — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 17; Data extraction annexes life processes beyond productive labor — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 143 (+11 more)

Related

• Platform work fuses data relations with labor relations at unprecedented scale (similarity 0.89)
• Platforms reconfigure human life to continuously produce extractable data streams. (similarity 0.89)
• Falling manufacturing profits drove capitalism toward data extraction via platform monopolies (similarity 0.88)
• Platforms are the principal infrastructure through which capitalist data appropriation is normalized (similarity 0.87)
• Data relations extend capital extraction beyond labor into all social life (similarity 0.86)
• Platforms are the first business model with data extraction built into their core DNA (similarity 0.86)
• Industrial platforms extract data to cement monopolies over global manufacturing (similarity 0.85)
• Platform profit does not come from exploiting labor but from commodifying social life itself (similarity 0.85)
• Data analytics progressed from describing internal data to prescribing every process and behavior (similarity 0.84)
• Data extraction annexes life processes beyond productive labor (similarity 0.84)
• Sharing’s semantic unboundedness masks the corporate capture of data (similarity 0.84)
• Platform data extraction operates as a continuous cache-gathering of social life. (similarity 0.83)
• Platforms extract value from each transaction without absorbing employment obligations (similarity 0.83)
• Platforms extract data as a form of unpaid payment from users (similarity 0.82)
• Platform companies converge into similar forms as they compete for the same data. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Platforms extract free labor from users in exchange for recognition and perks #exemplifies (0.85)
• Falling manufacturing profits drove capitalism toward data extraction via platform monopolies #expands (0.82) — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 17
• Data extraction annexes life processes beyond productive labor #corroborates (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 143
• Sharing’s semantic unboundedness masks the corporate capture of data #expands (0.78) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 514
• A few firms vertically dominate every layer of the data extraction pipeline #corroborates (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 176