The boom-and-bust period of the 1990s was marked by speculative investment in the Internet, which was still unmatched at the time of the writing of the book (2017). Firms responded by slimming down their operations (moving from “just-in-case” to “just-in-time” manufacturing) and through a frontal assault on labour power and labour unions, leading to the outsourcing of jobs overseas and contracting labour on increasingly flexible and low wage contracts. From the 1970s, competition from Japanese and German manufacturers led to an influx of manufacturing goods, a downward pull on prices of goods, and reduced profitability.

Manufacturing at that time was marked by a 'just-in-case' approach (in contrast to 'just-in-time' manufacturing) that justified retaining workers and inventory in reserve. Srnicek's story begins in the post-World War II period, marked by social democratic policies and a large manufacturing sector that provided stable employment for a large number of workers. Srnicek focuses on three crises in capitalism in particular: the 1970s downturn, the boom and bust of 1990s, and 2008 financial crisis.

Platform capitalism, while appearing as a novel emergence, is connected to the past few decades of capitalism. There are roughly three parts to Srnicek's investigation: 1) historicization of platform capitalism the current manifestation of platform capitalism is the result of previous crises and as a part of the logic of capitalism 2) a typology of the various platforms and 3) the future of platform capitalism. Srnicek's Platform Capitalism is an important contribution for understanding the economic structures of the current moment, given the dominance of the platform capitalism model (ideologically and economically), the centralization of power by Big Tech during the COVID-19 pandemic (adoption of digital tech), and the Big Tech Anti-Trust hearings in the U.S.

Platform capitalism srnicek