Toward a materialist critique of digital platforms from a Latin American perspective

Abstract

This article presents the perspective of the Political Economy of Communication (PEC) developed in Brazil by the OBSCOM/CEPOS group for the study of digital platforms. It highlights two axes that distinguish this perspective and contribute to the critical research agenda on platforms: (a) from the perspective of historical and dialectical materialism, platformization is conceptualized as an expression of the concentration of social production within the broader process of capitalist restructuring, reshaping the productive forces and the social relations of production; (ii) the proposition of the concept of mediation as central to understanding the coherence of transformation processes across all social spheres. As an example, the text examines the field of Communication itself, whose mediating role and the specific functions historically performed by the Cultural Industry are updated and expanded within the framework of what is defined as a new structure of social mediation. This PEC perspective provides a logical and historical framework for understanding platformization, from which more specific studies can be developed to examine the issues inherent in this broad and complex process.