Consumer Sovereignty in the Digital Society

Alexandre Chirat

A chapter in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on John Kenneth Galbraith: Economic Structures and Policies for the Twenty-first Century, 2024, vol. 41C, pp 35-54 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Do digital technologies of early 21st century capitalism promote or reduce consumer sovereignty? This chapter addresses this question by examining John Kenneth Galbraith’s critique of consumer sovereignty during the post-war period of industrial society and looks at the insights he provides to understand the impact of platform capitalism on consumer sovereignty today. This chapter has the following sections: (1) I review the main postulates of Galbraith’s theory; (2) I highlight the main differences between traditional advertising and online behavioral advertising; (3) I explain how online behavioral advertisement strengthens Galbraith’sdependence effectandrevised sequencetheories; (4) I then discuss normative challenges raised by digital platform corporations to individual sovereignty; and (5) finally, I argue that platform capitalism is a mature form of Galbraith’s “new industrial state.”

Keywords: Consumer sovereignty; online behavioral advertising; digital economics; platform capitalism; digital platform corporations; John Kenneth Galbraith (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542024000041c003

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542024000041C003

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