Economy, Technology and Society

This book charts the rise and fall of the ‘sharing economy’, the controversial lobbying tactics used by the central companies and the backlash seen so far. It offers key policy recommendations and presents state-of-the-art knowledge around the past, present and future of the platform economy.

This book pulls back the curtain on contemporary data-driven marketing, revealing the intricate ways marketers create value from online data. It offers valuable lessons for academics and students of marketing, technology and data science.

This interdisciplinary collection rethinks the political economy of the digital market by asking what came before platforms and suggesting what might come after them. Addressing themes like internet decolonisation, the book makes a timely assessment of the impact of evolving connections between technology, information, society and markets.

This book explores the idea of ownership in the realm of plant breeding, revealing how plants have been legally and physically transformed into property. It highlights the controversial aspects in the process of turning seeds, plants and genes into property and how this endangers the viability of the seed industry.

Engaging imaginatively with the future of money, this book examines the real-life efforts of grassroots movements and activists from across the world who are reclaiming power by designing, organising and implementing complementary currencies. It will be of interest to all who are interested in constructing a more sustainable and just world.

Why does scholarship on innovation tend to fixate on particular classes of technology while neglecting others? This book shows how common methodological tools and techniques of innovation carry neoliberal market biases that dominate the field. It is a resounding call for critical scholars to rethink the organisation of the discipline.

This book examines the evolution of digital platform economies through the lens of online gaming with a unique economic sociology perspective.

Paying particular attention to Valve’s ‘Steam’ platform, the book examines the architecture of this online videogame marketplace and the way it enables new markets and economic transactions.

Discussing the political understandings of trust and mistrust in the context of data, AI and technology at large, this book defines a process of trustification used by governments, corporations, researchers and the media to legitimise exploitation and the increasing of inequalities.

This book explores the relationship between the state and war within the context of seismic technological change. Through its analysis, the book questions what will happen to war and the state and whether we will reach a point where war leads to the unmaking of the state itself.

This stimulating analysis from Hannes Gerhardt shows how technology-led and commons-oriented strategies can create fairer economies and societies. Setting out the role of various digital tools with concrete examples of their value, it is a constructive and optimistic guide to overcoming anti-capitalist barriers.

Drawing on ethnographic studies of precarious work in Africa, this innovative book discusses their implications for labour of how globalisation and digitalisation are drivers for structural change. It explores the role of digital technology in new business models, and ways in which digitalization can be harnessed for counter mobilisation.