Operations of Platforms. A Global Process in a Multipolar World

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has engendered a crisis of mobility whose multiple dimensions have affected the movement of people and “stuff,” border regimes and logistical supply chains, the daily life of people in many parts of the world and the organization of labor. In such a conjuncture, digital platforms have emerged as key devices to manage the crisis, in such diverse fields as communication, food delivery, and e-commerce. this chapter we analyze the operations of digital platforms, or maybe more precisely processes of platformization of capital and labor. Such processes are definitely global, they reshape economy, governance, and society across diverse geographical scales, while their impact is characterized by different degrees of heterogeneity. We start by fleshing out what we call the platform model, and by analyzing some of its implications for capital and labor. Then, following the call to “de-Westernize platform studies”, we discuss the challenges it raises, and we conclude with an analysis of the processe of platformization in China.