Off-platform Social Networks and Gig Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted gig work in urban areas across India. In this article, we investigate the nature of responses from gig workers at a time of no or partial work. The platform studies literature has documented the role of on-platform networks in the accrual of value and creation of the gig work opportunities. Taking a cue from the economic sociology literature, specifically social reproduction theory, we examine the role of off-platform networks in enabling work during the pandemic in India. We draw on ethnographic fieldwork among ride-hailing and food-delivery app workers conducted in Kanpur and Kolkata between April 2020 and July 2021. Our findings show that during the pandemic, platform workers turned to four kinds of networks for monetary and non-monetary support: household members, dispersed kinship ties, neighbourhood networks and work-related ties. We argue that despite the individual strategies visible on the surface, these personal networks served as an essential infrastructure to sustain platform-based service work. We use social reproduction theory to understand how off-platform networks were vital for reproducing the gig worker as well as for the generation of value for platforms.