Are We All Amazon Primed? Consumers and the Politics of Platform Power

Are We All Amazon Primed? Consumers and the Politics of Platform Power Culpepper Thelen

Tag layer of the DHSS Meta-Tagging Project. The article text is reproduced from the staged copy named in sourceDesc and is not altered; the tags are held separately in standOff so that overlapping and nested spans are preserved.

Are We All Amazon Primed? Consumers and the Politics of Platform Power 2020 Comparative Political Studies 10.1177/0010414019852687 culpepper2020-are-we-all-amazon-primed-consumers culpepper2020-are-we-all-amazon-primed-consumers.txt, the project's staged copy 31f4dae904883a99f410a36648025a46c182b48e open-access comparative-political-economy

the paper's own words

the tag layer; a sentence written by the tagger about the paper, always anchored to a quotation but not itself a quotation

0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them mechanism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. platform power Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. conceptual-analysis conceptual-analysis Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Consumer appreciation verging on dependence on platform convenience translates market power into political clout, because politicians anticipate the backlash from depriving constituents of that convenience Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Which of a person's identities is made salient shifts their regulatory preferences: priming the citizen identity produces sociotropic preferences, priming the consumer identity produces a narrow focus on self-interest Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Platform power operates automatically in politicians' minds as anticipated political fallout, not as fear of disinvestment or job loss Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms A TERM IS COINED IN ONE SENTENCE AND GIVEN A STRUCTURAL DEFINITION IN THE NEXT: Quotation withheld The coinage is announced as the article's contribution, so the word arrives already carrying the claim it was invented to make Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms AND THE DEFINITION IS A STRUCTURAL POSITION RATHER THAN A PROPERTY OF THE FIRM: Quotation withheld What the term denotes is a place in a structure - who controls the terms of access - not a size, a sector, or a behaviour Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms THE TERM IS THEN DEFINED BY WHAT IT IS NOT, RULING OUT THE FIELD'S TWO STANDARD MECHANISMS BY NAME: Quotation withheld The new construct is positioned by excluding the two things political economy already had words for Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms THE THRESHOLD FOR THE TERM IS SET DELIBERATELY BELOW THE LEGAL ONE, IN A PARENTHETICAL: platform firms that achieve A CERTAIN ECONOMIC SCALE - WHICH NEED NOT REACH MONOPOLY PROPORTIONS - benefit from the direct relationship they enjoy to a large number of consumers WHO RELY ON THE PLATFORM AS IT BECOMES INTEGRATED INTO THE FABRIC OF THEIR DAILY LIVES. The concept is built to apply where antitrust does not reach, and the gap is stated rather than left to be noticed Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms A PRIOR DISTINCTION IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE SCHOOL THAT BUILT IT, AS SCAFFOLDING: MARXIST SCHOLARS BUILT SOME OF THE SCAFFOLDING FOR THESE MODERN DEBATES BY DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE INSTRUMENTAL AND STRUCTURAL POWER OF BUSINESS. The two inherited terms are named, dated and credited before the paper argues that neither covers its case Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms AND THE INHERITED VOCABULARY IS DECLARED INSUFFICIENT RATHER THAN WRONG: Quotation withheld The older term is left standing and denied primacy, which is a different move from refuting it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms AN ASSUMPTION IS ATTRIBUTED TO THREE RIVAL APPROACHES AT ONCE, AND IT IS THE ASSUMPTION THE PAPER DENIES: Quotation withheld One premise is extracted from three literatures and named as the thing they share Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms `BY DEFINITION` IS USED TO CONCEDE A GENERAL TRUTH AND THEN SET IT ASIDE: CONSUMERS ARE BY DEFINITION IMPORTANT TO ANY CAPITALIST ENTERPRISE, but the relationship to today's dominant platforms GOES BEYOND FAMILIAR MODELS OF CONSUMER LOYALTY OR COST-BASED CHOICE. The phrase marks what does not need arguing so that the contrast can carry the argument Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms AND THE PAPER REPLACES ONE OF ITS OWN WORDS MID-ARGUMENT, SAYING WHICH ONE IT MEANS: Quotation withheld Two candidate terms for one relationship, and the substitution is performed in the open rather than by drifting usage Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms DEPENDENCE IS OPERATIONALISED BY A BEHAVIOURAL CONTRAST CONCRETE ENOUGH TO CHECK: CONSUMERS LOVE LEGO BUT THEY ARE NOT DEPENDENT ON THE COMPANY IN THE SAME WAY that they are dependent on Amazon, WHICH ACTUALLY ALLOWS THEM TO ORDER THEIR LEGOS WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE OUT OF THEIR PAJAMAS. Affection and dependence are separated by what the firm lets you avoid doing, and the test is a scene rather than a measure Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms THE DIFFERENCE FROM EARLIER DOMINANT FIRMS IS LOCATED IN THE CONNECTION, NOT THE SIZE: UNLIKE PREVIOUS GENERATIONS OF LARGE COMPANIES ON WHICH THE BROADER ECONOMY CAME TO DEPEND, such as railways or utility companies, today's largest platforms enjoy A TIGHT, EVEN INTIMATE, CONNECTION TO THEIR USERS. The comparison class is named - railways, utilities - so the novelty claim can be checked against it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The phenomenon is too recent for systematic testing of the paper's propositions. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The survey evidence on preferring company self-regulation is American only; the authors lack comparable data elsewhere. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The assumed consumer preference against regulation is a simplification the authors concede. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The concept of priming - that individuals hold multiple identities whose salience can be cued, thereby shifting their political preferences - is imported to explain when consumers defend or abandon platform firms. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The permissive-consensus model of EU public opinion is borrowed as the analogy for how consumer support licenses platform firms until salient issues break it. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. platform power platform power Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. structural power structural power Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. quiet politics quiet politics Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. platform power - NOT A THING ANYONE DOES: it is 'LARGELY AUTOMATIC - it happens in the minds of politicians', an anticipated reaction rather than an act of lobbying, disinvestment or campaign spending. A power exercised by nobody, which is what makes it hard to observe and easy to deny Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. the resource that carries the power - CONSUMERS, NOT MONEY OR JOBS: firms 'benefit from the tacit allegiance of consumers, who can prove a formidable source of opposition to regulations that threaten these platforms'. The asset is an alliance the firm does not have to organise and cannot fully control Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Hooghe and Marks (2009), permissive consensus Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Naoi and Kume (2015) on priming consumer identity and trade preferences Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. platform power —distinct-from→ structural power platform power structural power differs in: WHAT THE THREATENED LOSS IS. Both work the same way - 'In common with Lindblom's (1982) punishing recoil mechanism, platform power is largely automatic - it happens in the minds of politicians.' The difference is the content of the anticipated punishment: 'in the case of platform power, Quotation withheld.' Two powers with one mechanism and different currencies, which is why a measure built for disinvestment threat would score platform firms at zero · strength of the relation: 0.9 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but endpoint by anaphora: 'The difference' is between platform power and the structural power of the previous sentences. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Platform firms' deference from policymakers does not come mainly from lobbying, campaign contributions or the threat of disinvestment. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Market power alone does not produce platform power: economic dominance is necessary but must be combined with a direct consumer relationship. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Platform companies are more likely than other companies to run broad-based political campaigns, pitting their popularity against their opponents'. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The Snowden revelations drove a wedge between platforms and consumers by revealing a hidden cost of reliance on them, and the public outrage helped strengthen the GDPR. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Danish unions defeated Uber by reframing it as a tax and welfare-state question, appealing to people as taxpaying citizens instead of convenience-seeking consumers. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Politicians bend more to platforms whose users are their own voters, which helps explain why cities regulate Airbnb more than Uber. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Where consumer and platform interests coincide, as with the harsh labour practices behind fast cheap Amazon delivery, no political mobilisation follows because consumers are themselves implicated in the practice. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The paper predicts that a platform losing consumer confidence will lose regulatory battles even when its share price and market share are untouched. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Courts and competition authorities may pose the biggest threat to platform power, because they are relatively insulated from consumer pressure. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. platform power platform power Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. permissive consensus permissive consensus Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. consumer confidence consumer confidence Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. political effectiveness political effectiveness Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 74 percent — Share of respondents in the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer trusting the technology sector to do what is right, the highest of any industry Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 39 vs. 56 percent — Americans wanting the US government to restrict false information online versus wanting tech companies to do it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. $13 million — Amazon's 2017 US lobbying spending, up from $2.5 million five years earlier Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 56 percent — Americans naming Facebook as the least trusted tech company just after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, against 5 percent for Google Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. 2.4 million views — Reach of the Danish union's anti-Uber video campaign, in a country of 5.7 million people Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. five of the top six — Places held by platform companies in YouGov's 2018 global brand health rankings Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. $45 million — Cost of Facebook's publicity campaign for Free Basics in India Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

The full text of this article is not redistributable, so it is not included here. The evidence sentences are withheld with it; the tag layer and its grounding status remain. The article itself is at https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414019852687.