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Applying Bourdieu to eBay's Success and Socio-Technical Design

Applying Bourdieu to eBay's Success and Socio-Technical Design

Rebecca M. Ellis
Copyright: © 2009 |Pages: 18
ISBN13: 9781605662640|ISBN10: 160566264X|EISBN13: 9781605662657
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-264-0.ch031
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MLA

Ellis, Rebecca M. "Applying Bourdieu to eBay's Success and Socio-Technical Design." Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems, edited by Brian Whitworth and Aldo de Moor, IGI Global, 2009, pp. 455-472. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-264-0.ch031

APA

Ellis, R. M. (2009). Applying Bourdieu to eBay's Success and Socio-Technical Design. In B. Whitworth & A. de Moor (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems (pp. 455-472). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-264-0.ch031

Chicago

Ellis, Rebecca M. "Applying Bourdieu to eBay's Success and Socio-Technical Design." In Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems, edited by Brian Whitworth and Aldo de Moor, 455-472. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2009. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-264-0.ch031

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Abstract

This chapter introduces the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concepts of “the field” and “capital” in relation to eBay. In any given field, there is competition for various sorts of “capital”—power and resources. This chapter considers eBay to be a “field” in its own right—a socio-technical system with its own set of social norms and rules. eBay is used as a case study of the importance of applying a Bourdieuean approach to create successful socio-technical systems. Using a study of eBay users as empirical illustration, this chapter argues that much of eBay’s success is in the affordances for social translucence of eBay’s Web site in supporting the Bourdieuean competition over capital and status. This exploration has implications for socio-technical systems design— in particular, the importance of creating and maintaining socially translucent systems, informed by Bourdieu’s theoretical insights, which support competition for “capital” and status.

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