The Gig Economy Vs The Helpless Entrepreneur: When Agency Is Defeated By Necessity Entrepreneur

Abstract

This paper engages with the questions of liberty, precarity and agency in neoliberal global capitalism. We are particularly interested in problematizing entrepreneurship- driven approaches to social development epitomized in the self-empowering doctrine of the gig economy. The focus of our study is precarious work in India’s gig economy and workers’ potential for development and increased agency. Our motivation is to give voice to precarious laborers and to reveal the significance of their experiences, as the needs and circumstances of these actors often remain invisible to those who push for policies of emancipation from poverty and exclusion through the entrepreneurship. Drawing on capability theory and a morphogenetic view of agency, we employ a critical realism lens to investigate the experiences of Uber drivers in urban India contexts.