数字平台扩张的社会成本——基于社会运行理论的探讨

The Social Costs of Digital Platform Expansion:Discussion Based on the Theory of Social Operating

数字平台在规模扩张过程中,一定程度跳出了生产成本和交易成本的限制,但遭遇了激增的社会成本。不同于以往的企业,数字平台是线上交易市场的组织形态,是市场规则的制定者和市场秩序的维护者。基于社会运行理论的研究发现,数字平台关系到广大民众切身利益,相关问题处理不善容易引发大规模利益冲突,影响社会稳定,因此需要经常回应各方对其市场规则的质疑;而作为数据和技术的集成方,它关系到国家数据安全和国家核心竞争力,所以在经济活动中需要凸显公共性、协调性、公平性和安全性,担当起更多的维护社会秩序的责任。数字平台扩张的社会成本主要包括:社会保障成本、利益协调成本、市场管理成本、国家安全成本。社会成本概念是理解数字平台扩张过程、策略以及规模边界的钥匙,是理解数字时代平台市场结构形成机制的重要社会学概念。

In scale expansion,digital platforms have jumped out of the constraints of production and transaction costs to a certain extent,but they have encountered surging social costs.Unlike previous enterprises,the digital platform is the orga-nizational form of the online trading market,the maker of market rules,and the defender of market order.Based on the theory of social operating finds that,due to the organizational attributes and structural advantages of digital platforms,the digital platform is related to the vital interests of the general public,which is prone to large-scale conflicts of interest and social stability if poorlyhandled.At the same time,it needs to respond to all parties'doubts about their market rules.Moreover,as an integrator of data and technology,it relates to the security of national data and the core competitiveness of the country.It is necessary to highlight the public nature,coordination,fairness,and security of the platform and to assume more responsi-bilities for maintaining social order.The social cost of digital platform expansion mainly includes social security,benefit coordination,market management,and national security costs.The concept of social cost is the key to understanding the expansion process,strategy,and scale boundary of digital platforms,and it is the sociological concept that helps to understand the formation mechanism of platform market structure in the digital age.