Subscription’s entanglements

Bibliographic Data

ID7514258
AuthorsAaron Shapiro (0000-0003-4501-6914, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume55
Issue1
Pages25-49
Publication date2026-01-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2025.2601466
OpenAlexW7128086516
LanguageEN
References cited56

Scholars cite subscription paywalls and recurring fees as evidence of a wider political-economic shift from commodification to assetization by digital enclosure, but the mechanics of the subscription model itself are largely taken for granted. This paper theorizes subscription through its transactional and formal entanglements. The bulk of the contribution is organized as a ‘tour’ of the subscription economy, showing how asset-like configurations of appropriation hinge on the extension of commodity-like commercial exchange as well as gift-like inducements to maintain appeal. While paywalls and recurring fees are clearly mechanisms for turning things into revenue-generating properties, the paper emphasizes the tenuousness of the asset form’s property-making in commercial arenas. It concludes that the asset form’s contingencies and vulnerabilities are opportunities to think more expansively about the politics of obligation and subscription’s possible role in postcapitalist economic organization.

Appropriation · Asset (computer security) · Commodification · Government (linguistics) · Obligation · Politics · Transactional leadership · Digital Humanities and Scholarship · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · South Asian Cinema and Culture

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