Mobile Payments, Social Money: Everyday Politics of the Consumer Subject

How should we think about mobile payments systems such as Apple and Android Pay? We argue that mobile payments should be understood in the context of changing consumption practices and the wider problematic of the consumer subject in International Political Economy. One (managerialist) view of these...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNew political economy Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 645 - 660
Main Authors Kremers, Ruben, Brassett, James
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.11.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Brands
consumer subjectivity
Consumers
Consumption
Cost benefit analysis
Cultural Political Economy
Determinism
digitalization
Economic growth
Global economy
Interlocking directorates
International Political Economy
Logos
Mobile commerce
mobile money
mobile payments
Money
Organizational power
Payments
Political economy
Politics
Power
Subjectivity
Value
Values
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Summary:How should we think about mobile payments systems such as Apple and Android Pay? We argue that mobile payments should be understood in the context of changing consumption practices and the wider problematic of the consumer subject in International Political Economy. One (managerialist) view of these changes suggests that certain 'immaterial' values in brands, logos or networks can become an important element in economic growth. Thus, businesses increasingly craft user experiences to realise brand value as the indicator of future consumption, for example, Facebook, Netflix. Against this view, the critical literature has underlined how the customer relationship should be understood as an element in corporate power; enticing consumer subjects to dedicate their social lives to the task of monetisation. Rather than choose between sides of this dichotomy, we suggest it may be more fruitful to reflect upon the unanticipated potentialities of mobile payments. By reflecting on the sociality of money, we move beyond a simple cost-benefit analysis, or a structural determinism, to emphasise the contingency of market subjects, questioning how to think about the relationship between consumer subjects, on the one hand, and and a putatively impersonal (yet palpable) global economy, on the other.
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ISSN:1356-3467
1469-9923
DOI:10.1080/13563467.2017.1306503