Alessandro Caliandro, Alessandro Gandini
QUOTE THIS PAPER: Caliandro, A., Gandini, A., Bainotti, L., & Anselmi, G. (2024). The platformization of consumer culture: A theoretical framework. Marketing Theory, 24(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931231225537 (Original work published 2024)
This special issue, together with this position paper that accompanies it, aims at providing a
comprehensive framework to address this issue, introducing and theorizing the concept of plat
formization of consumer culture. The overarching scope of this essay is to discuss what is distinctive
of the process of platformization in relation to consumer culture (and research); what are its most
important aspects, its critical controversies, its innovative dimensions and main risks. Accompa
nying this positional essay are the seven exceptional contributions that compose the special issue,
which we believe will come to represent a pivotal reference in the quest to address this phe
nomenon. These showcase the manifold empirical, semantic and methodological dimensions of this
emergent phenomenon, concurring to define the key dimensions that identify, describe, and
explore the ways in which consumer culture has been “platformized,” from the perspective of
consumer culture theory. Specifically, we identify four key “tensions” characterizing the plat
formization of consumer culture: datafication vs liquification; standardization vs ephemerality; inter
action vs mediation; immateriality vs materiality.
KEYWORDS
Consumer culture · digital consumer · imaginary · platformization · surveillance capitalism · theoretical framework · digital methods
