Platform Capitalism in the Structure of Social Reality

Annotation

The article presents an interdisciplinary socio-philosophical analysis of platform capitalism as a key factor in the transformation of modern social reality. It is argued that the digital platform is not merely a business model, but a new intermediary infrastructure that radically restructures the ontological foundations of social being. The main theoretical approaches to the definition and typology of platforms (N. Srnicek, J. van Dijck, J. Tirole, C. Fuchs, B. Bratton, etc.), as well as the genesis of platform capitalism in the context of the «long downturn,» neoliberalism, and surveillance capitalism (S. Zuboff) are examined. Special attention is paid to the conceptual and methodological foundations of research: political-economic, socio-ontological, poststructuralist, psychopolitical (Byung-Chul Han), pharmacological (B. Stiegler), and postcolonial approaches. The mechanisms of algorithmic power, datafication, commodification of the social, digital colonization, algorithmic subalternity, and epistemic violence are analyzed. The specifics of the Russian model of platform capitalism are shown in the context of the struggle for digital sovereignty, the development of national platforms, and resistance to global dependency. It is substantiated that platform capitalism is formed at three levels of social reality – objective, subjective, and sociocultural – generating both constructive (economic growth, accessibility of services) and destructive effects (precarization, digital mythologization, threats to sovereignty and identity). The necessity of an interdisciplinary synthesis is emphasized to overcome technological determinism and to develop strategies of digital sovereignty, symbolic literacy, and alternative (cooperative, decentralized) platform models.

Keywords

• platform capitalism
• social reality
• social ontology
• digital sovereignty
• digital colonization
• algorithmic subalternity
• epistemic violence
• postcolonial theory
• digital identity
• interdisciplinary approach
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Contribution of the authors

Khrapov S. A. – development of a general research methodology, disclosure of the socio-philosophical aspect of the transformation of social reality in the context of digitalization; Mironov G. Y. – understanding and conceptualization of the phenomenon of platform capitalism, its ontologization in the levels of social reality.

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