What Do Platform Workers Think About the Law? The Ambiguous Legal Status and Legal Consciousness of On-Demand Food Delivery Riders in China

Empirical research has found that platform workers have adopted both collective actions and informal practices to address unfavorable working conditions. However, the “small-scale geographies” of platform work as well as the inter-linkage of shifting forms of resistance is under-explored. This paper aims to broaden and deepen our understanding of resistance from platform workers, through a case study of app-based delivery drivers in Shanghai, China. As responses to precarity, drivers have resorted to both open, collective actions and more hidden everyday practices. Because of surveillance by the Chinese state and the close managerial control of workers, collective protests have been rarely seen and of limited effectiveness; more individual and quiet practices such as dissimulating data are favored by drivers in their everyday resistance. We argue that the intention to resist on the part of drivers echoes and expands Bayat’s observations on the survival techniques of the urban poor, and differs from the “political act” argued by Scott. It is hard to conclude that the drivers’ everyday resistance can provoke dramatic confrontation in China as Scott’s arguments would lead us to suppose. Our study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the platform economy by highlighting the unique modalities and strategies of delivery drivers in China, which differs significantly from those in Western contexts that are often addressed in the existing literature. It sheds light on the specific forms of struggle against the asymmetric power of platforms and provides new insights into the mechanisms of resistance.

The current state of scientific discourse on legal consciousness occurs within a range of topics of enquiry. In this scope of research, a trendline of publications emerged which employs a narrower focus on the aspects of migrants‘ legal consciousness. As there were no systematic research aspirations in this particular field, this research explores the current scientific discourse, addresses factors for sociolegal integration and uncovers further paths for scientific enquiry as well. The following investigation adopts a method of systematic literature review which covers the time frame of research of three decades - since 1990 and introduces the main tendencies in scientific research on migrants’ legal consciousness. It addresses their geographical spectrum and reasoning that lead to scientific research. The other task was set to highlight the main factors which were identified to be affecting migrant’s legal consciousness and socio-legal integration as equally. The results of the investigation revealed a relatively small, but growing body of literature exploring migrants’ legal consciousness with a considerably narrow geographical division of the research, concentrating mainly to one continent, and with a dominant focus to national (versus comparative) context. Therefore the current field of scientific literature on migrants’ legal consciousness could benefit from the dissemination of investigations in the varied cultural environments and legal systems, as well as launching comparative studies while addressing a varying legal status. This research indicates a range of factors which plays a role in shaping migrants‘ consciousness, though few of them come into frontline while referring different migrants’ legal status. These include, but are not limited to the list, covering legal framework and social norms or ideals of the host country, as well as the encounter with the institutional sector and cultural heritage.

Background: Legal consciousness and legal culture are interrelated but different concepts. Legal consciousness is a set of ideas, views, beliefs and feelings of people regarding law, legality and justice. It reflects the attitude of society or an individual toward the law. Legal culture is a broader concept that includes not only the level of legal consciousness but also the degree of implementation of legal norms in society, as well as the lawful behaviour of citizens. The development of legal awareness and legal culture is necessary for the construction of a legal state and the observance of democratic principles. Examining these elements is important for evaluating how effectively policies fulfil human rights obligations and identifying key directions to improve justice and equity. Methods: The study utilised document and legal analysis approaches. It examined the legal culture and legal consciousness in Kazakhstan by analysing the annual reports of the Ombudsman for Human Rights from 2019 to 2023, as these provide authoritative assessments of human rights, legal awareness, and access to justice in Kazakhstan. Additionally, the study analysed current legislation and policy documents relevant to legal culture and legal consciousness in Kazakhstan, including the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Concept for the Development of Legal Policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030, and the National Plan for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. Results and Conclusions: The study revealed the dynamics of public legal consciousness and the challenges of adjusting national policies to global human rights standards. The findings were categorised into three main themes: complaints as indicators of legal culture and legal consciousness; human rights in criminal proceedings and rights of convicts; and legal education and public engagement. As the findings indicate, human rights violations during pre-trial investigations, allegations of coercion, and mistreatment of convicts remain significant concerns in ensuring access to justice in Kazakhstan. These results highlight gaps in institutional accountability and policy implementation, stressing persistent difficulties in protecting human rights within the criminal justice and judicial systems. An analysis of key legal acts in the context of legal culture and legal consciousness revealed that the development of a strong legal culture in Kazakhstan requires a number of reforms aimed at increasing the level of legal education of the population, institutional accountability, and effective implementation of laws. The study concludes that to promote legal culture and legal consciousness in Kazakhstan, it is imperative to address identified systemic issues through legal reforms, public education, and institutional strengthening.

In England, sex workers are placed at the edges of the law. How the social and legal status of sex workers impacts on their perception of and interaction with the law in a semi-legal setting has not yet been explored. Drawing on fifty-two qualitative interviews with indoor and outdoor sex workers in England, this study investigates their disposition to the law, legality and the state. The commonalities and discrepancies between the experiences of indoor and outdoor sex workers reveal the influence of the combination of legal framework and social status on sex workers’ legal consciousness. This study finds that, even in a setting of semi-legality, sex workers attempt to avoid contact with state authorities. However, this aversion to the current law does not prevent them from making claims for legal change. Surprisingly, indoor and outdoor sex workers hold opposing views on the appropriate level of regulation and state involvement in the sex industry. Remarkably, although outdoor sex workers have more negative experiences with arbitrators of the law, they desire the law's protection. In contrast, indoor sex workers’ main grievance is for sex work to be a legitimate industry that can operate with only minimal state control. These differences in outdoor and indoor workers’ legal claims are explicable by sharp cleavages in social status, vulnerability and degree of criminalisation. These findings demonstrate that intra-group differences in the legal consciousness of marginalised groups are key to understanding the role of social and legal status in shaping legal claims.

On 20 November 2014, President Barack Obama introduced Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) as a temporary relief for undocumented immigrant parents raising citizen children in the United States. DAPA’s implementation stalled indefinitely following a court-issued injunction in 2015, subsequent legal contestation, and a Supreme Court decision in 2016 upholding the original injunction. I purport that both DAPA and its failure to implement constitute sites from within which to critically examine the legal consciousness and sense of belonging of undocumented participants. By bridging scholarship on legal consciousness and belonging, this article examines how Latino first-generation undocumented immigrants from Los Angeles, who considered DAPA, understand their unlawful presence and assert belonging in the United States (US). This article draws on participant observation in Los Angeles, California, including four DAPA legal information forums and 24 in-depth interviews following DAPA’s court injunction with undocumented parents who intended to apply to DAPA. Data reveal a legal consciousness imbued with normative and value-based notions of substantive citizenship including parenthood, law-abidingness, and contribution. In light of DAPA’s failure, participants draw on these narratives to counter-assert their belonging and deservingness of DAPA. Ultimately, this case draws attention to how undocumented, first-generation immigrant legal consciousness is more complex than previously ascertained, and how DAPA shapes immigrants’ claims to a lawful presence.

The article is devoted to importance and relevance of the problem of the personality formation as a subject of legal consciousness. The article presents a theoretical analysis of some aspects of the legal consciousness formation of the individual. The psychological aspect of the sense of justice suggests the consideration of its emergence, development and improvement through internal psychological activity is the result of the influence of subjective and objective factors. The concept of individual legal consciousness, levels of its development and factors that influence directly on its formation are considered. The interdependence of the level of the formation of a person's legal consciousness and the state of the criminal situation in the country is defined. Based on the analysis of the statistical data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, concerning the identified crimes, the interrelation of objective and subjective determinants of the individual legal consciousness formation of a person and its dependence on public legal consciousness are determined. Difficulties that a person can face in various spheres of life through unformed legal consciousness are indicated. It is noted that in the context of the legal state and civil society, the category of legal consciousness is as one of the main links in the subjective and objective forms of interaction between the individual, society and the state. The effectiveness of mechanisms for the realization of law in society is increasingly determined by the degree and nature of its assimilation of a personality. Personal legal consciousness is one of the most important components that create the legal field of the state. The necessity of the psychological mechanisms study of the person’s legal consciousness, providing the assimilation and functioning of social and legal norms of behavior is substantiated. The study of the processes of formation and transformation of the legal consciousness suggests the possibility to reveal in detail the main mechanisms of structuring the whole complex of personal qualities that it acquired through the involvement in the system of social relations. The prospects of further theoretical and empirical research of this issue are determined.

Purpose: The article aims to establish the causes of deformation of professional legal consciousness. The quality and level of development of legal consciousness of an advocate are determined by the degree of protection of human rights and freedoms, as well as by the state of legality and legal order. In view of the above, the fight against the manifestations of deformation of professional legal consciousness is an accute problem of building a legal and social state. Prevention and elimination of professional deformation of an advocate is impossible without establishing the reasons for its occurrence. Methods: The author relied on general methods of cognition, as well as such private scientific methods as structural and systemic, functional, comparative and legal, statistical, study of empirical material: disciplinary and law enforcement practices. Results: Some aspects of the nature of the deformation of legal consciousness of an advocate have been investigated, external and internal factors contributing to its appearance have been revealed, as well as the reasons for the formation of this negative phenomenon of legal reality, which have been implemented by example, including the advocacy. Conclusions: It is noted that circumstances leading to distortions in the professional legal consciousness affect representatives of the legal community equally or almost equally, but only a smaller proportion of them violate the requirements of legal norms and corporate ethics. A natural question arises as to the reasons why the said "anomalies" of the structure of legal consciousness arise in some cases and not in others. The following conclusion is grounded: the "trigger" of professional deformation of both an advocate and any other person is the degradation of the moral structure of the person - individually formed notions of conscience, shame, justice, the measure allowed and so on.

The article focuses on the formation of legal consciousness among economic migrants from third countries to Poland as an important factor that contributes to their integration in the host country. First, the concept of legal consciousness is discussed, and a migration-adjusted model of how it is formed is proposed. As special emphasis is put on legal knowledge, an overview of the legal provisions of migration employment law is presented. Finally, based on articles and reports on economic migration to Poland, we ascertain how migrants acquire legal knowledge, what the flow of information is, where interferences are and how they impact migrants’legal consciousness. Based on articles and reports, we identify possible breakdowns in the information flow between key labour market actors (e.g. employers, public offices that manage the formal side of the employment process, and intermediaries, such as temporary employment agencies) and migrants. The complexity of regulations often leaves employers and foreign workers dependent on intermediaries. Without knowing the applicable legal provisions, much less understanding them, migrants tend to lack all types of legal knowledge. Thus, they may develop attitudes and legal consciousness based on false premises, further impacting their legal status in the host country. Even if they acquire knowledge, its quality can be questioned due to the fraud and deception that are often reported. Particularly troublesome is the limited contact between public offices and migrants, depriving them of reliable legal information.

Aim a theoretical concretization of the essence and originality of the legal consciousness of modern Russian citizens. The following argument is the basic one: socio-philosophical analytics is immanent to historically established theories of legal understanding and legal consciousness.
 The author speaks on the history of the legal foundations in Russian statehood and identifies the specifics of legal understanding. The theories of state and law of B.N. Chicherin and I.A. Ilyin, as well as the socio-philosophical (libertarian) theory of law of V.S. Nersesyants are discussed. The originality of legal consciousness is proved to have been determined by the specifics of a particular time. Thus, some legal theorizations were created by B.N. Chicherin on the eve of the abolition of serfdom, by I.A. Ilyin on the eve and after the revolution of 1917, and by V.S. Nersesyants at the end of the Soviet period in the history of Russia. The theorizations of law undertaken by these thinkers can also be considered as their individual legal consciousness.
 Despite the ideological diversity, the theoretical constructions of B.N. Chicherin, I.A. Ilyin and V.S. Nersesyants (as well as their legal consciousness) are related by the presence of the idea of justice (equality). The basic principle of law is truth as the identity of justice (B.N. Chicherin). The legal consciousness of a person as a statement of his "own spirituality" presupposes a special equality recognition of the "spirituality of other people" (I.A. Ilyin). The idea of equal norms and measures for all (social equality), freedom and justice are the main elements of law (V.S. Nersesyants). The idea of justice (equality) is stated as a certain theoretical inertia and included in socio-philosophical theoretical constructions (A.G. Sabirov, A.E. Makhovikov).
 Today, at the next turning point in both Russian and world history, the legal consciousness of Russians is also discussed through the peculiar property of dialectical transformation inherent in it "in accordance", "in favor" or "contrary" to reality. It is indicated that today, equality and justice as specific Russian features of individual and mass legal consciousness presuppose, among other things, a twofold observance of legal self-discipline both by citizens themselves and by a legal state of social type.

The article is devoted to the philosophical and legal problems of the peculiarities of the influence of legal education on the legal consciousness of a person, which involves the influence of external factors and transformations of the internal perception of the surrounding reality, which directly affects the formation of the individual’s legal consciousness. It has been found that legal education has an important value-motivational impact on the legal consciousness of a person and contributes to its legitimate socialization in a state society on the basis of natural law norms and requirements of the law, and also contributes to the formation of respect for human rights and freedoms in the individual. A person with an appropriate level of legal education and a formed axiological legal consciousness is able not only to realize the importance of observing lawful behavior, but also to understand and perceive the requirements of the norms of law, moral prescriptions and carry out his life activities according to their requirements and on their basis. Attention is focused on the fact that the formation of a person’s value orientations and understanding of good and evil significantly affects the vector of development of society and the state, because if a person forms his own worldview from childhood on the basis of democratic values in a legal state that recognizes and shares the general civilizational norms of coexistence of humanity, based on the provision and implementation of the fundamental rights of citizens, then his legal consciousness will develop on the principles of lawful existence, respect for human dignity, law and society. A person’s moral beliefs are formed under the influence of his close environment and society from an early age throughout his life. It is noted that today the practice of universal legal education of the population requires some adjustment. It is important that educational institutions work with minors not only in the context of cooperation with juvenile prevention bodies, to prevent manifestations of unlawful behavior, but it is worth involving practicing lawyers in various areas of law enforcement to familiarize students with current legislation, taking into account the age category. It is advisable to introduce informative practice at enterprises, institutions, organizations in order to familiarize citizens with their rights and obligations, the relevant regulatory and legal framework.

Platform work has emerged and spread due to fundamental changes in the economy and labor environment and the avoidance of direct employment. Platform work refers to “paid labor provided through a digital platform that brokers work to an unspecified number of people and coordinates the labor provision process through algorithms,” and its types include local-based and web-based. The right to work, a fundamental right under the Constitution, is embodied in individual labor relations laws, including the Labor Standards Act, and the recognition of worker status under the Labor Standards Act is the gateway to exercising the right to work in practice. However, platform workers were not envisioned when the Constitution stipulated the right to work and the Labor Standards Act was enacted, and it is not easy for them to be recognized as employees under the Labor Standards Act based on the current Labor Standards Act and case law. Platform workers are essentially the same as traditional employees in that they earn their livelihood through paid labor, and therefore need constitutional protection. However, there are a number of other aspects that distinguish platform workers from traditional employees that need to be considered. The spectrum of platform workers is very diverse, and it may be appropriate to vary the approach according to the degree of dependency. Platform workers with strong dependency, which is a marker of traditional workers, should be recognized as employees under the Labor Standards Act, while platform workers with weaker dependency should be categorized as a third type. However, it is not appropriate to include them in the category of ‘persons in special types of employment’, which require full-time and permanent status and are gradually being replaced by the concept of labor providers. Regardless of their legal status, platform workers should be guaranteed minimum universal rights as workers.

Resistance studies is an emerging interdisciplinary field interested in analyzing various resistance practices and their relation to complex entanglements of power and resistance. Largely informed by the seminal work of James Scott in 1985, resistance studies is attentive not only to moments of collective direct action, revolution, and insurrection, but also to the small, informal, subtle and clandestine acts of “everyday resistance” employed by marginalized people. Despite the proliferation of resistance literature that accounts for this genre of small, informal everyday resistance, the everyday resistance of disabled people remains underexplored and undertheorized in resistance studies and in disability studies. This thesis uses discourse analysis to explore conceptual linkages and fissures between disability studies and resistance studies literature on power, disability oppression, and everyday resistance. Taking into consideration the complex systems of power that operate to isolate, exclude, control, surveille, and delegitimize disabled people and the multiple barriers to collective organizing, I suggest that discourses of disability resistance that focus exclusively on visible, collective resistance likely miss something important about how disability oppression and resistance operate. By attending more carefully to instances and patterns of everyday resistance of disabled people, disability and resistance studies scholars may not only begin to reimagine what resistance means, but also more critically evaluate how structures of domination operate to oppress disabled people. I conclude with a discussion of the challenges (both practical and ethical) associated with recognizing, accessing, excavating, decoding, and exposing “hidden transcripts” of everyday disability resistance in the archives and possibilities for recognizing and analyzing sites of contemporary everyday disability resistance.

A group of private lawyers known as rights-protection (weiquan) lawyers are emerging in China showing keen interest in solving the cases affecting the public interest. These different types of weiquan lawyers helping public to shape the development of civil society.

Many platform workers are engaged in activities that are insecure, poorly paid, and often dangerous. But the fragmentation and individualization of their work, reflecting both technology and (in many cases) geography, impede these workers from expressing their opinions, priorities and demands. Making matters worse, the typical classification (or misclassification) of platform workers as contractors often denies them not just basic employment protections, but access to traditional forms of collective organization and bargaining. This chapter focuses on the use of regulation to facilitate collective bargaining or other methods by which platform workers can win a meaningful say over work organization, compensation, and working conditions. The chapter assesses the extent to which existing systems of labour regulation around the world can accommodate representation and collective bargaining for platform workers. It also explores how collective bargaining for self-employed workers may be constrained by competition laws. It reviews examples of actual or proposed reforms to national laws to facilitate representation and collective action by platform workers, as well as the application of current or proposed international labour standards and codes of conduct. The chapter concludes by identifying the most promising priorities for regulatory improvement to support the development of genuine and effective mechanisms of collective voice, representation, and negotiation for platform workers.

The analysis of scientific sources provides grounds to assert that legal regulation is the regulation of social relations carried out through law and the entire set of legal means. The concept of "regulation" (from Latin regulo - rule) implies organization, adjustment, and bringing something into conformity with something else. In our view, to regulate means to define the behavior of individuals and their collectives, to direct their functioning and development, to provide certain limits, and to organize them purposefully. Alongside this, some scholars relate the term "regulation" solely to law as a system of norms and some other specific legal phenomena (legal relations, acts of law implementation). They disagree with the existing understanding of the regulation of social relations as the rigid and authoritative norming by the state and law, as, in their opinion, the category of "regulation" is not synonymous with coercion, rigid, and authoritative prescription. The legal norm establishes only a model of relations in which social interests must be correlated with the interests of society members, and alongside this, law widely uses such means of influencing people's behavior as stimulation, encouragement, granting rights, etc. It is argued that to transition to the definition of legal regulation, it is necessary to refer to the theory of law, which provides explanations for the concepts of "legal influence" and "legal regulation". Legal influence is considered a broader concept, as it includes the normative-organizational influence on social relations not only through a system of special legal means (those that directly regulate these relations - legal norms, legal relations, acts of implementation and application of law), but also through other legal phenomena - legal consciousness, legal culture, legal principles, law-making process, etc. A proposed definition states that legal regulation is the authoritative influence on social relations carried out by the state through all legal means for the purpose of their organization, establishment, protection, and development. Besides such (regulatory) influence, law also exerts a spiritual-ideological influence on individual and social consciousness (both in the process of legal regulation and beyond). "Restrictions" and "prohibitions" as legal categories have been analyzed. The etymology of the words "restriction" and "prohibition," their relationship to each other and to adjacent and synonymous concepts, have been explored, and an original interpretation of the content and essence of these concepts has been proposed. A number of features characterizing restrictions and prohibitions as legal categories have been identified (defined in normative legal acts; established to prevent potential abuses of law; associated with a "narrowing" of an individual's legal status; presuppose a specific model of behavior, specifically restrictions entail active behavior, meaning to do only what is defined within limits; prohibitions entail passive behavior, meaning to refrain from doing prohibited actions; they perform a protective function in social relations; non-compliance with them is accompanied by a negative response from the state. The concept, characteristics, classification, and a systematic analysis of restrictions and prohibitions as means of legal regulation have been defined. Based on the analysis of dictionary, reference, encyclopedic literature, as well as specialized legal sources, the article formulates original definitions of "restriction". The specificity of these particular restrictions and prohibitions lies in their special area of application (they apply to individuals when exercising their powers within the civil service); they apply to specific subjects (directly to individuals who have the legal status of civil servants); their application is determined by a special purpose; they are characterized by specific, comprehensive normative legal regulation; their application is ensured by state coercion. Distinctive features inherent to restrictions and prohibitions in the field of legal regulation have been identified: individual character; preventive nature; limiting aspect; coercive nature; the presence of a special subject; connection to professional activity; relation to delict norms, and their essence has been explained. The normative basis for defining and applying restrictions and prohibitions as means of legal regulation has been characterized (substantive legislation, procedural legislation, sub-legislative normative legal acts). A classification of restrictions and prohibitions has been conducted, and it is proposed to conditionally divide them into three groups (personal, property, and mixed).