Abstract

Digital platforms have transformed social relations, reconfigured power structures, and reshaped economic and educational practices. This article uses grounded theory as its research design to review how the dynamics of the digital platform economy intersect with Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social fields and symbolic power, Antonio Gramsci’s notion of hegemony, and Nick Srnicek’s critique of platform capitalism. Through curated bibliographic perspective of qualitative analysis, three dimensions emerged: (i) the reproduction of power in digital fields, (ii) the construction of digital hegemony in the context of neoliberalism, and (iii) the role of data extraction and algorithmic governance as mechanisms of domination and commodification. The study consequently argues that digital platforms operate almost simultaneously as economic infrastructures as well as ideological apparatuses, to reinforce the notion of a neoliberal logic that is redefining the forms of social control and power dynamics on digital platforms.

Keywords

social field, symbolic power, digital platforms, hegemony, neoliberalism, platform capitalism