ABSTRACT
The rise of the platform economy has become a major source of debate in both advanced and developing economies. Social media platforms have enticed users on sites such as YouTube and Instagram to compete for prominence in the “attention economy,” performing “aspirational labor” as a means of generating advertising revenues through their online activity. Platforms have also attracted interest for political and cultural reasons quite apart from their economic consequences. Advocates see in the platform revolution an opportunity to establish a more entrepreneurial and inclusive economy. Platforms and platformization are also increasingly involved in public goods production, such as in education and healthcare. Although the actual size of the labor force that participates in platform work is relatively meager, platform economy can implement far-reaching changes into virtually every facet of contemporary capitalism. The multidimensionality of platform work, which ranges from casualization to the co-operativist style of community-oriented platforms and regulated markets to explain the transformation of platforms under one framework.
