In the discourses of the electronic commerce (e-commerce) industry, consumers are alleged to be empowered by the affective relations they establish in online communities. This article investigates this claim using a Foucauldian archaeological framework. It seeks to identify the key social and historical conditions that have enabled this representation to appear and to become a viable characterization. The question it examines is not whether consumers are actually empowered by e-commerce, but why it is deemed important to interrogate online consumers’ affective activity in terms of power.
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