Hobbis Geoffrey, Hobbis Stephanie Ketterer
University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
Media Cult Soc. 2022 Jan;44(1):121-140. doi: 10.1177/01634437211022714. Epub 2021 Jun 9.
This article argues for a need to move beyond studies of platform capitalism and inter-capitalist struggles to also account for inter-economic struggles, the platformization of longstanding primarily non-capitalist societies, the same kind of societies that have conceptually inspired discussions of platforms as hi-tech gift economies. Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork on digital transformations among the horticulturalist Lau of Malaita, Solomon Islands, we analyse horticulturalist adoptions and adaptations of Facebook. Specifically, we consider how informal bush markets are being digitized through online Buy and Sell groups. We show how Solomon Islanders use Buy and Sell Facebook groups to continue moral economic practices that emphasize the accumulation of wealth not in a capitalist, but in a relational sense, where economic activity primarily serves the creation and affirmation of relationships. Our findings, thus, challenge universalizing claims about the nature of platforms as one that is necessarily about the commodification, in a capitalist sense, of all social relations. Simultaneously, they call for more research on experiences of platformization at the margins of global capitalism and the ways in which not-so-average users are making platforms their own.
本文主张，有必要超越对平台资本主义和资本主义间斗争的研究，还要考虑经济间的斗争、长期以来主要是非资本主义社会的平台化，正是这类社会在概念上激发了关于平台作为高科技礼物经济的讨论。基于对所罗门群岛马莱塔岛园艺种植者群体数字转型的长期人种志田野调查，我们分析了园艺种植者对脸书的采用和适应情况。具体而言，我们考察了非正式丛林市场如何通过线上买卖群组实现数字化。我们展示了所罗门群岛居民如何利用脸书买卖群组延续道德经济实践，这种实践强调财富积累并非基于资本主义意义，而是基于关系意义，即经济活动主要服务于关系的建立和确认。因此，我们的研究结果挑战了那种将平台本质普遍化的观点，即认为平台必然是将所有社会关系进行资本主义意义上的商品化。同时，这些结果呼吁对全球资本主义边缘地区的平台化体验以及普通用户如何将平台据为己有展开更多研究。
