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Open Sesame? The Paradoxical Development of C2C E-commerce in China

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  • Ju Li

Abstract

In this article, I analyze the paradoxical development of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce in China by investigating three dimensions in its ecosystem: the rent extraction of the platform capital, the labor-intensive mini-enterprises under the demand-driven supply chain of e-commerce, and the widespread commodification and dispossession. I argue that its development has deepened and broadened the exploitative relationship among various forms of labor and capital. To a great extent, although the largely unregulated development of e-commerce has created more employment and provided opportunities for some previously marginalized places and social groups, especially during the early stage, it has quickly engendered malicious competition, notorious counterfeiting, and shrinking profits and bankruptcy for mini-merchants and mini-entrepreneurs, while on top of that a few huge monopolistic e-commerce platform companies have arisen and expanded rapidly. JEL classification : O11, O33, O53, P21

Suggested Citation

  • Ju Li, 2021. "Open Sesame? The Paradoxical Development of C2C E-commerce in China," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 266-280, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:53:y:2021:i:2:p:266-280
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613420964164
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Dan Schiller, 2000. "Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262692333, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    C2C e-commerce; rent extraction; demand-driven supply chain; commodification; accumulation by dispossession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • P21 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform

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