Open AccessPLATFORM AS NEW “DADDY”: CHINA’S GENDERED WANGHONG ECONOMY AND PATRIARCHAL PLATFORMS BEHIND
Author(s) -
Xiaofei Han
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.11932
Subject(s) - intermediary , china , new economy , digital economy , construct (python library) , economy , hierarchy , order (exchange) , profit (economics) , incentive , political science , business , market economy , economics , marketing , computer science , law , microeconomics , finance , keynesian economics , programming language
This paper provides an explorative analysis of gender as a criticaldimension of the prospering wanghong economy in China with special attention devoted to thee-commerce wanghong value chains that are yet to be examined by scholars so far. Wanghongrefers to a particular stream of vocational Chinese internet celebrities that have acquiredtheir celebrity online and have acute incentives through various models to liquidate suchonline influence by transforming followers into consumers. While wanghong economy is oftenprojected as a new platform economy that is by the women and for the women on diverse mediaoutlets, my analysis highlights the structurally embedded gender hierarchy of this platformbusiness ecosystem and the platform power increasingly associated with patriarchal order asexemplified by the updated meanings constructed around the Chinese term “baba” (daddy),which now is used to refer to platforms by wanghong and netizens. By combining the analysisof female participation at different levels of wanghong economy with the “platform-as-daddy”discourse prevalent on Douyin, one of the most popular social media platforms, this paperseeks to connect the industrial analysis of wanghong economy as one of the most prominent“platform economies” in contemporary China with its cultural dimensions. It accentuates thekey roles of major Chinese platform companies as not only new critical intermediaries inperpetuating the ongoing patriarchal system between the state and users but also activeparticipants that actively construct, and aggressively profit from, the gendered wanghongeconomy value chains.