Cognitive capitalism of wedding industry in the digital age: Case study of digital inequality on sustainability development goals

Abstract

Wedding industry is one of industries that managed and expanded their businesses by keeping up with technology. As a form of one-stop shopping and marketplace of Indonesia’s wedding industry, Bridestory provides business strategies offered by the latest technology and offers convenience for brides, grooms, and wedding vendors. By providing platforms, websites, social media and mobile applications, it not only creates opportunities to support its sustainability in the wedding industry, but also serves the role of reducing economic inequalities by making wedding references accessible for everyone, not limited to the upper class-only. By constructing the ideology of ideal wedding throughout its digital communication channels, Bridestory is found to be operating their business strategy within the logic of cognitive capitalism. This study aims to dismantle the construction of the ideal wedding that has been revolving around in the industry by identifying four labor strategies in the logic of cognitive capitalism: free labor, immaterial labor, affective labor, and hope labor. This study managed to find the manifestation of value-network model that is related to digital inequality of sustainable development goals. The study found the exploitation of free labor and hope labor via their usage of social media application that contributed to products acquisition.