Value, rent and platform capitalism

Abstract

How is value produced and distributed under conditions of platform capitalism? This chapter attempts an initial answer to these questions by, first, critiquing the dominant ‘free labour’ thesis posed by the followers of Dallas Smythe and the work of many autonomist Marxists. Second, this chapter proposes an alternative approach based around rent and rentierism, building off of a recent resurgence in interest around these concepts. The consequence of the latter account is that platform capitalism must be seen as part of the continued stagnation of contemporary capitalism rather than an innovative exception.