{"title":"Platform companies on the internet as a new organizational form. A sociological perspective","authors":"Ulrich Dolata, J. Schrape","doi":"10.1080/13511610.2023.2182217","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Today ’ s internet is shaped by privately operated platforms that not only organize economic processes but also coordinate and regulate broader societal contexts. Against this background, this conceptual paper develops a sociological notion of platform companies and the platforms they operate as a new type of enterprise that consists not only of economic features (business and revenue models, exploitation patterns, market relations) but also of action-orienting rules, institutional infrastructures and social relations between a great variety of individual, corporate and collective actors that clearly reach beyond economic contexts and far into society. To this end, we specify the often fuzzy talk of ‘ the platforms ’ by drawing an analytical distinction between (1) the platform-operating companies as organizing cores whose goal is to operate a pro fi table business; (2) the platforms belonging to them as technically mediated market and social action spaces that provide the basis for not only economic but also genuine social activities on today ’ s internet; and (3) the institutionalized coordination, control and exploitation mechanisms implemented by the platform operators, linking these two constitutive levels of the platform architecture.","PeriodicalId":46877,"journal":{"name":"Innovation-The European Journal of Social Science Research","volume":"507 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Innovation-The European Journal of Social Science Research","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2023.2182217","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Today ’ s internet is shaped by privately operated platforms that not only organize economic processes but also coordinate and regulate broader societal contexts. Against this background, this conceptual paper develops a sociological notion of platform companies and the platforms they operate as a new type of enterprise that consists not only of economic features (business and revenue models, exploitation patterns, market relations) but also of action-orienting rules, institutional infrastructures and social relations between a great variety of individual, corporate and collective actors that clearly reach beyond economic contexts and far into society. To this end, we specify the often fuzzy talk of ‘ the platforms ’ by drawing an analytical distinction between (1) the platform-operating companies as organizing cores whose goal is to operate a pro fi table business; (2) the platforms belonging to them as technically mediated market and social action spaces that provide the basis for not only economic but also genuine social activities on today ’ s internet; and (3) the institutionalized coordination, control and exploitation mechanisms implemented by the platform operators, linking these two constitutive levels of the platform architecture.
期刊介绍:
European integration and enlargement pose fundamental challenges for policy, politics, citizenship, culture and democracy. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research provides a unique forum for discussing these processes. It welcomes articles on all aspects of European developments that contribute to the improvement of social science knowledge and to the setting of a policy-focused European research agenda. Examples of typical subject areas covered include •Policy-Making and Agenda-Setting •Multilevel Governance •The Role of Institutions •Democracy and Civil Society •Social Structures and Integration •Sustainability and Ecological Modernisation •Science, Research, Technology and Society