Surveillance Capitalism, Platform Capitalism or Data Capitalism

Many theorists have attempted to describe the phenomenon of the large internet firms which dominate our contemporary economies. Google, Facebook, Amazon and others have become symbols of a new kind of capitalism, and also of the growing inequalities in contemporary economies. I will review some leading conceptions of these large firms, focussing on two accounts – Shoshana Zuboff argument for conceiving of these firms as surveillance capitalists, and Nick Srnicek’s description of platform capitalism. I will synthesise these two conceptions, and contexualise them within the broader framework of what West calls data capitalism.

Oliver Lane-Porter Confirmation milestone