Brick-and-Platform

Listing Labor in the Digital Vintage Economy

Bibliographic Data

ID2414166
AuthorsT Kneese (0000-0001-9905-5914, University of San Francisco, corresponding author), Michael Palm (0000-0003-3068-8144, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Year2020
Volume6
Issue3
Publication date2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Media + Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2056-3051 • E-ISSN: 2056-3051
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2056305120933299
OpenAlexW3039184990
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited37

Vintage goods are valued for their nostalgic association with pre-digital modes of production, but their contemporary trafficking is increasingly organized by processes of platformization. The central component of what we call 'listing labor in the digital vintage economy' is the online display of collectible merchandise, but listing labor also entails promoting sellers' brands on social media and using sales platforms and other logistical media to manage inventory, process transactions, and handle shipments. Listing labor is performed by branded merchants and their employees alongside independent entrepreneurs. The digital vintage economy connects brick-and-mortar shops and resale supply chains organized around flea markets, thrift shops and charity bins, estate sales, and consigners, to online clearinghouses like eBay and Craigslist, and to social media and payment apps. In this article, we argue that listing labor in the digital vintage economy further develops the concept of 'platform labor.' We focus on vintage clothes and vinyl records, dominated by women and men, respectively, to help us analyze divisions of listing labor organized by gender, race, age, and class. We draw upon 20 semi-structured interviews with shop owners and employees and on participant observation in independently owned clothing boutiques and record stores in several US cities. The digital vintage economy provides another angle for understanding how identity-based distinctions affect the opportunities associated with platform labor, and our account of listing labor highlights the need for studies of platformization that analyze its effects on specific local economies as well as on job markets and commercial sectors

Advertising · Business · Commerce · Digital economy · Digital goods · Economics · Economy · Labour economics · Real estate · Sharing economy · Vintage · Computer Science · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · Law · Finance · Marketing

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Open DOIOpen Access