In search of belonging: Lived experience livestreaming and relational desistance after imprisonment in China

In this article, we explore the use of the digital labour market set up by mobility platforms in Bengaluru, Karnataka, as a mechanism to cope with climate change-induced livelihood transition. Climatic hot spots within regions like the southern Indian state of Karnataka have caused a large volume of livelihood transition along the rural–urban continuum (Revi in Environ Urban 20(1):207–229, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247808089157 ). Bengaluru is Karnataka’s primate city, thus absorbing agrarians pushed out of unprofitable agriculture into its ever-growing informal service sector (Singh et al. in Clim Risk Manag 21(June):52–68, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2018.06.001 ). Climate-induced migration into urban centres creates intersecting forms of differential vulnerability. This vulnerability is structured by social discrimination embedded in informal economies, performed through respect, dignity, and humiliation in work encounters in relational economies (Simone in Public Cult 16(3):407–429, 2004). Mobility platforms like Uber and Ola cabs have added to work opportunities within Bengaluru’s service sector by creating an alternative work opportunity—the digital labour market for taxi driving. The digital labour market set up by the mobility platforms offers migrants an alternative labour market to plug into without reliance on relational economies or incurring social debt. We find that the digital labour ecosystem attracts climate change-impacted migrants by offsetting ‘access to work opportunities’ in three key ways: (a) overcoming relational voids, (b) substituting network costs and circumventing social debts, (c) supplementing precarious agricultural work. This article uses evidence from qualitative data collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 113 Uber and Ola cab drivers in Bengaluru between 2015 and 2018 to explore the presence of the digital labour market as short-term adaptive strategy to create resilience against climate change-induced livelihood transitions into complex urban informal labour markets.

Personhood, animalism, and advanced directives: The intersubjective and affective heart of the matter

This study examines the evolution of middle-aged and older-adult fan cultures within China’s digital media landscape, focusing on the construction, transformation, and eventual dissolution of “emotional heterotopias” on short-form video platforms. Emotional heterotopias are digital spaces shaped by nostalgic narratives and interactions between fans and platform celebrities, which serve as sites of emotional refuge and cultural participation, offering a counternarrative to dominant societal norms and stereotypes. However, the divergence of these fan communities from elite cultural standards often subjects them to stigmatization, intergenerational conflicts, and social marginalization. This study examines how emotional heterotopias are transformed into tools of control and exchange through platform capitalism’s commodification of fan practices as a means of capital accumulation, drawing on critical theories of cultural commodification and digital labour, and employing digital ethnography and in-depth interviews. The quadruple exploitation of fans’ time, bodies, finances, and emotions is highlighted, exposing the socioeconomic contradictions inherent in platform capitalism.

In this yearlong research study examining rural adolescent girls’ narratives of identity, I did not originally propose to interview the girls in focus groups. However, in the isolated and small community context in which the girls lived, being singled out for individual interviews posed a significant threat to the girls and a misunderstanding of how the girls’ narratives of identity were developed. Where girls already experienced feelings of loneliness and fears that others might use relational aggression to further separation, being pulled aside or singled out for an interview was anxiety provoking. Such a realization reflects my misguided assumption as an outsider about the way in which narratives of identity were crafted, as in such a tight-knit community context, the girls’ stories of self were not individually developed but communally built. Using a relational framework, I explore my decision to use focus groups and the way in which focus groups might dispel the notion that identities are created as individual acts. Instead, evidence is presented to show that the development of a narrative of self in this context is a communal and negotiated process.

PurposeUsers’ active participation in platform value co-creation is the key to the development of crowdsourcing logistics platforms, especially the active participation of the crowdsourcee who provide logistics services. However, driven by self-interest, coupled with loose links among subjects on the platform ecological chain, it is difficult for users to effectively form value co-creation intentions. This study aims to explore how platform governance affects crowdsourcees’ intention to participate in value co-creation on the platform through individual cognition.Design/methodology/approachBased on social cognitive theory (SCT), this study built a research model and took the crowdsourcee on China’s well-known crowdsourcing logistics platforms as the investigation object, using the collected 302 valid survey data to test the model.FindingsThe results showed that platform governance mechanisms have a significant influence on crowdsourcees’ intention to participate in value co-creation on the platform, either directly or through crowdsourcee cognition, and the impact is different. The crowdsourcee cognition plays a mediating role between platform governance mechanisms and crowdsourcees’ intention to participate in value co-creation on the platform, and the mediating effect of value acquisition perception (VAP) is significantly higher than self-efficacy (SE).Originality/valueThe results provided references for crowdsourcing logistics platforms to develop a targeted governance mechanism to promote the platform to achieve value co-creation.

This dissertation, State Labor, Digital Inequalities, and Governed Creativity, examines how state power, platform governance, and capitalist forces intersect to shape the experiences of digital creative labor in China. This research contributes to digital labor studies and broader conversations on digital inequalities, labor protection, and the de-Westernization of media and communication scholarship. This dissertation asks: How do Chinese digital creators understand their labor, and how do they navigate their roles within tightly controlled and platformed industries? What challenges, opportunities, and risks emerge in their creative work under intersecting state power and market forces? My research draws on qualitative methodologies, including content analysis, online and offline observation, and ethnographic interviews with digital laborers, ranging from content creators and platform managers to employees of multi-channel networks (MCNs). Through immersive fieldwork, I aim to uncover the nuanced lived experiences of digital creators and the structural conditions shaping their work. Central to my dissertation is the concept of "state labor with governed creativity," which captures how Chinese digital creators--once imagined as independent cultural producers--are increasingly co-opted into state-led narratives of nation-building. The findings of my dissertation reveal that these creators operate within deeply asymmetrical power structures shaped by platform governance, algorithmic control, and expanding state oversight. Despite their visibility, they lack legal recognition, institutional support, and basic labor protections, leaving them highly susceptible to exploitation and censorship. In addition, the findings reveal four interrelated labor issues in Chinese DCCIs: creators' subjection to platform hegemony, their vulnerability to content takedowns and censorship, the lack of legal recognition, and the absence of collective support. These insights not only contribute to scholarship on digital inequality and creative labor but also offer practical implications for labor policy in the platform economy--an urgent and underdeveloped area.

This study examines the use of “algorithms in everyday labor” to explore the labor conditions of three Chinese food delivery platforms: Baidu Deliveries, Eleme, and Meituan. In particular, it examines how delivery workers make sense of these algorithms through the parameters of temporality, affect, and gamification. The study also demonstrates that in working for food delivery platforms, couriers are not simply passive entities that are subjected to a digital “panopticon.” Instead, they create their own “organic algorithms” to manage and, in some cases, even subvert the system. The results of the approach used in this study demonstrate that digital labor has become both more accessible and more precarious in contemporary China. Based on these results, the notion of “algorithmic making and remaking” is suggested as a topic in future research on technology and digital labor.

In this study, we examine the concept of decent work on local digital platforms in Serbia. So, this article focuses on the research topic of whether labour done on local digital platforms may be classified as "decent work." Labour digitization and the digital economy are novel phenomena that need in-depth examination. We begin with the concept of the digital economy as a basis for the development and expansion of digital labour. This new economy is characterised by knowledge and the use of various smart tools, as well as the crossing of national borders, and so on. Nowadays, we may talk about the gig economy, which is defined by short-term employment on online platforms or labour via mobile applications. These developments resulted in the establishment and growth of a worldwide digital labour market marked by non-standard forms of employment, insecure labour agreements, and the involvement of thirdparty intermediaries between employees and clients. There are considerable efforts to alter employment legislation throughout Europe. Co-regulation, which involves several players in the decision-making process, is one possible option. The Directive on Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work, which is now in the process of adoption, is perhaps the most important document at the EU level. It is worth mentioning the practices of the European Union's Court of Justice, national courts in Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany, as well as national regulations in both Italy and France that establish the right to disconnect. We must also acknowledge the work of international and national trade union federations, such as the European Trade Union Confederation. So, the most pressing issue in this study is finding decent work in the digital labour market. A decent work index comprises many indicators. With statistical and legal indicators, the International Labour Organisation discusses 10 core aspects of decent work. According to an early study, there is no decent work on digital platforms due to bogus self-employment, which occurs when certain entrepreneurs work for only one company. The reasons for this phenomenon are reduced expenses and employers' lack of accountability. This is also an aspect of digital labour in Serbia. To assess the gig economy in Serbia, we use the online labour index and the gigmeter. According to the online labour index, Serbia is among the top 15 nations in the world in terms of the number of digital employees, accounting for 1.4% of the global total. Software development is the most frequent occupation. According to the gigmeter, the most frequent employment is creative and multimedia. The most crucial duty is to figure out how many digital employees there are in Serbia. According to the most conservative estimate, Serbia has almost 90,000 digital employees. Almost two-thirds of digital employees in Serbia are in hidden employment. Now we can talk about doing decent work on digital platforms in Serbia. To assess decent work, we apply the Fair Work Principles. Fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation re among these principles. Every platform can be scored with a basic and an extra point, for a total of 10 points. The study incorporates five platforms: Uradizaradi, Glovo, Wolt, Car: Go, and Mr.D. According to the Fairwork rating, Uradi-zaradi and Wolt met the most requirements but received just a passing grade. The Public Policy Centre performed extensive research on decent work to find that it does not exist on digital platforms. The most essential motivation for digital labour is a high wage, which comes at the price of a long working week. This study determined that neither platform satisfies the passing standard and makes some recommendations for improving working conditions on local platforms. First, the practice of bogus self-employment must be stopped. Second, labour legislation must be revised. Third, the right to collective bargaining must be extended to digital workers. This can be done by a strong trade union movement that can find a way to safeguard digital employees without jeopardising traditional workers' rights.

This thesis explores the impacts of hope on the experience of incarceration and re-entry into the community and how ex-prisoners make sense of and foster hope in their lives. This research was conducted through qualitative interviews with nine participants in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Qualitative interviews discerned four main themes emerging: the overall experience of provincial incarceration and the positive and negative aspects of that experience, the process of re-entry and the barriers that ex-prisoners face in that process, the motivations to change and begin desisting from crime and finally, the way in which ex-prisoners feelings of hope impacted their experiences throughout this process. Amongst the key findings is, the participants who lacked the feeling of hope during their imprisonment generally felt more disoriented during their re-entry in the community. Next, although prisons are painful and negative spaces, they can also offer an opportunity for reinvention (Crewe and Ievins, 2020). As such, many of the participants in this research found various ways to “reinvent” themselves post-imprisonment. In alignment with procedural justice literature, this research found that when prisoners had positive interactions with correctional officers, it profoundly impacted their feelings of hope. As such, the participants who had procedurally just interactions described feeling more hopeful in their prison sentence and later re-entry into the community. This research also found that although these ex- prisoners had shorter sentences, they still felt various strains in their process of re-entry. The most predominant way that the participants navigated their re-entry into the community and further desistance from crime was by distancing or “knifing off” old peers (Laub & Sampson, 2001). Despite having difficulty interpreting hope, after thought and reflection, each participant made sense of the term by attributing it to a more positive future.

This study examined patterns, variations, and existential turning points in young mothers' narratives of self and their visions of the future as part of a larger hermeneutic, longitudinal study. The study was philosophically based in the phenomenology of everyday practices as inherently meaningful, situated, and historically derived and drew on dialogical views of the self. The sample consisted of 13 (of the original 16) young mothers and family members who had been interviewed 4 years earlier. For the present study, data consisted of life history accounts of the intervening 4 years, stories of caregiving routines, and recent coping episodes of parenting elicited through in-depth interviews. Findings offer a situated understanding of young mothering and highlight meaningful distinctions in the ways young mothers experience the self and project themselves into the future. The discovery of patterns and variations in the young mother's sense of self and future have implications for guiding clinical practice and are preliminary to designing programs and interventions that are tailored to the practical understanding and situated possibilities of young mothers.

This qualitative analysis explores older adults’ lived experiences of incarceration. As part of a larger mixed-methods longitudinal study, 23 older adults were interviewed about their prison and reentry experiences. Findings describe experiences of loss, lack of medical attention, abuse by staff and other inmates, and the uncertainties and danger of prison life. After release, participants reported experiencing anxiety and stress related to their prison experiences. While participants reported that the ability to manage prison life deteriorated with age, some benefits of their senior status were also described. Maturity may allow older prisoners to remove themselves from volatile situations. Participants described experiences of rest and recovery, reflecting coping mechanism and resilience that could improve psychosocial outcomes during and after prison. This descriptive analysis centers the voices of older prisoners and informs interventions to support this vulnerable community.

Live streaming has shifted from a niche hobby to a form of digital labour, yet creators often work without formal protections. Recent cases, including coordinated harassment campaigns and contested bans, illustrate the escalating risks streamers face and reveal how Twitch’s design and governance choices can heighten these vulnerabilities. This paper examines Twitch as an interactive system to analyse structural barriers to safety and the misaligned interests between viewers, streamers, platforms, and governments. Drawing on literature in digital labour and platform governance, and using illustrative case studies, we identify four interlocking dynamics: platform–streamer power imbalances, regulatory and institutional gaps, dependence on viewer patronage, and the structural invisibility of streaming within labour law. The findings show that Twitch exercises employer-like control over monetisation, visibility, and conduct while avoiding the obligations of formal employment. We propose governance models, regulatory reforms, and design interventions to address the systemic imbalance of power in live streaming.

Two epidemics disproportionally impact older (50 years and over) African Americans compared to the general U.S. population: Incarceration and HIV/AIDS. Those aged 50 and older constitute the fastest growing age group of persons who are incarcerated in the United States. It is estimated that by the year 2030 about one third of the incarcerated population in the U.S. will be aged 55 years and older. While areas of “Incarceration, racial disparities and HIV” as well as “Aging and HIV” have been well studied and discussed in the literature, little is known about the lived incarceration experiences of African American persons living with HIV/AIDS (AAPLWHA). Thus, the purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to understand the processes older AAPLWHA experience related to their incarceration and engagement in care. The two main goals of this study were: 1) To understand and provide deep description of the varied dimensions of the experience of incarceration among older AAPLWHAs and 2) To develop an inductive theory of the process related to incarceration experiences among older AAPLWHAs and their engagement in care. Questions supporting and guiding these goals included: 1) How do older AAPLWHA draw meaning from their incarceration experiences? 2) How do incarceration experiences and understandings of their meaning relate to the process of engagement in care for older AAPLWHA? The nature of these questions warranted a qualitative approach designed to gain an in-depth understanding from older AAPLWHAs and their incarceration experiences. Methods included in-depth interviews with twenty-two older AAPLWHA who had an incarceration history. Additionally, seven participants were selected for in-depth follow-up interviews. The results include an exploration of the influence of HIV and incarceration stigma, different pathways (jail versus prison), and the impact of age and race on older AAPLWHAs incarceration experience. This study investigated the behavioral and psychological processes related to engagement in care for formerly incarcerated older AAPLWHA resulting in the formulation of an inductive theory titled: “Older AAPLWHAs Journey Towards Engagement in Care during Incarceration.” The inductive theory explains how older AAPLWHAs engaged in the process related to their HIV care from the point of entering the correctional system to in-care experiences and of linkage to care post-release. In the context of program and policy development, the findings of this study can provide the following insights: 1) Interventions within correctional settings that prioritize HIV care and decrease HIV related stigma 2) Greater access to long-term services and linkage

Drawing from a narrative identity framework, we present the results of three studies examining the nature of what people do and do not disclose about their life experiences. Across three studies, our findings indicate that (1) the major difference in what people do and do not disclose concerns the emotionality of the events and whether or not the events are transgressions; (2) for everyday memorable events, increased negative emotion is associated with greater likelihood of disclosure; but (3) for more important and/or longer retained events, increased negative and decreased positive emotion were associated with lower likelihoods of disclosure. We also found that socioemotional consequences are an important reason for nondisclosure of important past experiences and are predictably related to the extent to which events induce positive and negative emotions. Findings are considered in terms of their implications for narrative identity.

Purpose This study employs socio-technical systems (STS) theory to analyze the evolving landscape of digital labor in the gig economy, offering critical insights into the ways human resource adaptation has progressed in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach This research used a mixed-method framework by using bibliometric and scientometric analysis. Biblioshiny was used to identify research themes, using Latent Dirichlet Allocation followed by clustering using K-means and hierarchical clustering. All keyword co-occurrence analysis was done using CiteSpace, applying the Louvain algorithm, to visualize and identify thematic clusters. Findings The findings identify nine core themes shaping the development of digital labor, offering a socio-technical perspective on the dynamics of gig work, revealing structural shifts and challenges within the digital labor market. Notably, a research gap remains in studies focused on the Middle East, Africa and North America, highlighting the need for future investigations to expand the global understanding of digital labor and its economic transformation. Practical implications This research presents a strategic roadmap for managing and optimizing digital labor, particularly within industrial and manufacturing quality settings. By aligning labor management with economic drivers, the study emphasizes operational efficiency, inclusivity and sustainability. The results have direct implications for industry leaders and policymakers, offering actionable insights to enhance organizational adaptability in an increasingly digital economy. Originality/value This investigation integrates regional contexts with interdisciplinary bibliometric analysis and methodological innovation and aids policymakers and industry practitioners. By exploring the multiplicity and complexities of digital labor, this study bridges STS theory with quality management by showing how digital labor dynamics affect human-centered quality systems. For managerial readers, it offers insights into designing adaptive and resilient quality practices in response to technological and organizational change, addressing a critical gap through a functional-process lens.