Abstract
Workplace surveillance is traditionally conceived of as a dyadic process, with an observer and an observee. In this paper, I discuss the implications of an emerging form of workplace surveillance: surveillance with an algorithmic, as opposed to human, observer. Situated within the on-demand food-delivery context, I draw upon Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad to provide in-depth conceptual examination of how platforms rely on conceived space, namely the virtual reality generated by data capture, while neglecting perceived and lived space in the form of the material embodied reality of workers. This paper offers a two-fold contribution. First, it applies Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad to the techno-centric digital cartography used by platform-mediated organisations, assessing spatial power dynamics and opportunities for resistance. Second, this paper advances organisational research into workplace surveillance in situations where the observer and decision-maker can be a non-human agent.
Highlights
Knowledge falls into a trap when it makes representations of space the basis for the study of ‘life’, for in doing so it reduces the lived experience.(Lefebvre, 1991 [1974], p. 230).Workplace surveillance, as a potent and pervasive organisational control mechanism, has been traditionally implemented to ensure that labour is performed in compliance with managerial goalsOrganization Studies 42(5)(Fleming & Spicer, 2008; Giddens, 1984)
For platform-mediated and on-demand organisations, commonly referred to as ‘gig economy platforms’, algorithmic surveillance is leveraged as the dominant surveillance modality within multimodal surveillance assemblages (Goods, Veen, & Barratt, 2019; Rudolph & Gruber, 2017; Veen, Barratt, & Goods, 2020)
Since organisational space is the medium through which power asymmetries and social relations are manifested (Beyes & Steyaert, 2011; Dale, 2005; Dale & Burrell, 2008), this paper reflects on the limitations of algorithmic surveillance in the gig economy, especially since the epistemological gap between digital-based and humanbased surveillance generates opportunities for workers to resist control and to reappropriate the spaces of production (Briziarelli, 2018; Waters & Woodcock, 2017)
Summary
Knowledge falls into a trap when it makes representations of space the basis for the study of ‘life’, for in doing so it reduces the lived experience.(Lefebvre, 1991 [1974], p. 230).Workplace surveillance, as a potent and pervasive organisational control mechanism, has been traditionally implemented to ensure that labour is performed in compliance with managerial goalsOrganization Studies 42(5)(Fleming & Spicer, 2008; Giddens, 1984). Digitalization, gig economy, organisational control, platforms, sociology of work, space, surveillance, virtual Foodora and UberEATS are a few examples of food-delivery platforms which deploy algorithmic surveillance as the crux of their organisational processes.
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