Platform Labor Research Articles

Theorizing Labor in the Platform Economy: Labor Restructuring in Historical Perspective

ABSTRACTThe rise of the platform economy is one of the most widely debated issues in contemporary studies of work and labor relations. Scholarly work on platform labor has been permeated by claims of radical restructuring, either caused or exacerbated by the disruptive properties of algorithms, networks and data‐driven systems of control. However, a growing body of literature has drawn attention to the weaknesses of such claims, highlighting several continuities in the organization of work between the pre‐platform and platform economy, including in labor processes and in the regulation of labor‐capital relations. This article reviews key theoretical interventions within these areas of the literature, arguing that they eventually point toward the lack of historical distinctiveness of platform labor. It then suggests that a more nuanced and critical understanding of labor restructuring and platformization as part of a process of systemic social change would benefit from engagement with the theory of Uneven and Combined Development (U&CD). This engagement would build on two lines of inquiry: workforce diversity and spatial differentiation in the platform economy. The article concludes that U&CD is a useful meta‐theoretical framework to understand change within continuity, accounting for the variegated experiences of platform workers in interconnected spaces of capitalist accumulation.

S. Yu. Chucha. Ensuring and protecting social and labor rights in the context of transformation of the sphere of labor and employment. Moscow: Prospekt, 2024. – 446 pp.

The article presents a review of the fundamental monograph by S. Yu. Chucha, dedicated to the problems of ensuring and protecting social and labor rights in the context of transformation of the sphere of labor and employment in modern conditions. The reviewer characterizes all six sections of the monograph and then discusses some controversial issues. In particular, the scientific discussion concerns the historical stages of the origin of the branch of Labor (employment) Law, the expansion of the subject of Labor Law through Civil Law, some aspects related to the use of platform labor, remote labor and artificial intelligence technology.

Casually cynical or trapped? Exploring gig workers’ reactions to psychological contract violation

PurposeDrawing on psychological contract (PC) theory and platform labor research, the purpose of our study was to explore gig workers’ reactions to perceived PC violation. Our study was set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought workplace health and safety issues into much sharper focus, even in nonstandard employment arrangements like gig work.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a mixed-methods design. In Study 1, we tested a conceptual model of US-based ride-hail drivers’ (n = 202) affective and cognitive reactions to Uber’s (lack of) commitment to safe working conditions. In Study 2, we conducted interviews with 32 platform workers to further explore an unexpected finding from Study 1.FindingsIn Study 1, we found that drivers’ perceptions of PC violation were related to decreased trust in Uber and higher intentions to leave this line of work; however, cynicism toward Uber only predicted withdrawal intentions for those drivers who did not believe that they had job alternatives available outside of gig work. We explored this further in Study 2, where we found that workers with low economic dependence on gig work could afford to be casually cynical toward the platform, while high-dependence workers felt “trapped” in this line of work.Originality/valueWe contribute to the social/relational theoretical approach to gig work more broadly and to the literature on PC in platform work more specifically. We also add to the emerging literature on how economic dependence shapes workers’ experience of platform work. Our findings around low-dependence gig workers experiencing a more indifferent form of cynicism – which we have termed casual cynicism – highlight the importance of treating the context of gig work as unique, not merely an extension of traditional management research.

Towards a geographical political economy understanding of platformization

In the last ten years digital platforms have emerged as an important theme in academic discourse and various subdisciplines of geography and adjacent research areas. Whether in the fields of social media, urban transport, industry cloud services or gig work, platformization is therein often discussed as a more-than-economic phenomenon engaging in a conflictive relationship with public interest, sovereignty, regulation and the state. However, while the concept of the platform has become ubiquitous, the integration of and dialogue between various broadened definitions are less often practiced. In our short paper, we argue that for further addressing this intricate relation between platforms, power and sovereignty an engagement with the platform concept and its integration through a political economy understanding is key for two reasons: Firstly, an overarching concept of platformization transcending the political/economy binary is necessary to be able to problematize the reification of normalized economic practices lying at the heart of the phenomenon. Secondly, there is a pragmatic reason for developing a geographical political economy perspective on platformization as it can serve as a common ground for an engaged pluralism within and beyond the discipline of economic geography. Based on a systematization of existing definitions this paper therefore combines insights from political economy perspectives, urban platform research and research on platform labor to propose a working definition stimulating a reflection on the platform discourse thus far and strengthening strategical-relational thinking on platform power in future research.

Short-Term Digital Platform Work’s Long-Term Impact on Livelihoods

As platformization and virtualization of work gain prominence in the digitally connected world, parallel efforts are being made to narrow the digital divides, driving the globalization of short-term digital labor as both a rapidly evolving theoretical construct and a practical reality. Although the disproportionate influence of platforms on Global South development is a growing area of concern, the global reach of platforms does not necessarily imply a uniform impact on development gains and constraints across different developing regions. This review paper explores this interplay between digital platform work and local development, particularly emphasizing the long-term impact of platform-mediated digital work on workers’ livelihoods in the Global South. The study delves into how the variation in local contextual factors changes the livelihood outcomes of platform work in different Global South countries. The study focuses on three key areas endogenous to local development, i.e., access to decent work, employability skills development, and workers’ resilience within the ever-changing job market. A realist synthesis method is used to distinguish between different scholarly perspectives across various disciplines and geographic areas. The findings are further utilized to refine a conception of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, providing a tool that broadens the scope of platform work analysis to account for the diverse structural and contextual factors impacting workers’ livelihoods in different regions. The study calls for a thorough examination of the uneven distribution of platform labor outcomes, focusing particularly on the local contextual factors contributing to this disparity.

(In)visible by Design: An Analysis of a Domestic Labor Platform

Since the rise of platform labor, food delivery, and ride hailing workers have become a visible part of cityscapes, unlike platform workers in the domestic sector. The invisibilization and economic devaluation of reproductive tasks, especially in the private sphere, has a long history.Although platforms are not likely to yield a radical transformation in this sector, qualitative changes concerning the invisibility of work outsourced by households can be observed. In this contribution, we draw from the analytical framework of (in)visibility of/in platform-mediated work and map it against our research findings on a key platform in domestic cleaning in Europe, including netnographic data and interviews with workers and clients. Using the framework as a heuristic tool leads us to a more nuanced understanding of (in)visibility in platform-mediated cleaning in perceptible, institutional, and individual terms. Moreover, we argue that the interrelations between these three layers of (in)visibility offer novel insights for making sense of worker organizing and collective action, the practices related to leaving the platform, and the issue of workers’ occupational identity of domestic cleaners. As such, the study contributes to the current debates on platform labor and domestic work, including the value-visibility relation and the role of digital platforms therein.

Cross-Boundary Subsumption: Toward a Political Economy of Platform Labor

The existing body of research on the platform economy provides a variety of interpretations of platform labor. Nevertheless, current studies have either placed exchange rather than production at the core of their interpretations or overlooked the historical continuity of the type of labor to which platform labor belongs. Employing a historical-comparative approach, this article introduces the concept of “cross-boundary subsumption” to illuminate the characteristics of platform labor. Drawing insights from investigations and interviews conducted on ride-hailing platforms in China from 2018 to 2020, this article delves into how cross-boundary subsumption works in reality. The goal is to improve the understanding of platform labor and uncover the limits of the current models of the platform economy.

Navigating the Legal Labyrinth: The Future of Data-Driven Platform Labor in China

Navigating the Legal Labyrinth: The Future of Data-Driven Platform Labor in China

Platform sub-imperialism

This commentary explores Brazil's role in Latin American platform capitalism, integrating Ruy Mauro Marini's theoretical framework with contemporary studies of platform capitalism. It examines the connections between Latin American platforms, overexploitation, and data accumulation, leading to the concept of platform sub-imperialism: The emergence of certain Southern countries as platform sub-imperialist powers, acting as regional centers of data and capital accumulation through the expansion of their platforms into neighboring countries. This positioning constitutes an intermediate state between hegemonic nations and “digital colonies” in the international division of platform labor, data accumulation, and technological dependency.

Comparison of the Association Between Presenteeism and Absenteeism among Replacement Workers and Paid Workers: Cross-sectional Studies and Machine Learning Techniques

BackgroundReplacement drivers represent a significant portion of platform labor in the Republic of Korea, often facing night shifts and the demands of emotional labor. Research on replacement drivers is limited due to their widespread nature. This study examined the levels of presenteeism and absenteeism among replacement drivers in comparison to those of paid male workers in the Republic of Korea. MethodsThis study collected data for replacement drivers and used data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey for paid male workers over the age of 20 years. Propensity score matching was performed to balance the differences between paid workers and replacement drivers. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for presenteeism and absenteeism by replacement drivers. Stratified analysis was conducted for age groups, educational levels, income levels, and working hours. The analysis was adjusted for variables including age, education, income, working hours, working days per week, and working duration. ResultsAmong the 1,417 participants, the prevalence of presenteeism and absenteeism among replacement drivers was 53.6% (n = 210) and 51.3% (n = 201), respectively. The association of presenteeism and absenteeism (adjusted OR [95% CI] = 8.42 [6.36−11.16] and 20.80 [95% CI = 14.60−29.62], respectively) with replacement drivers being significant, with a prominent association among the young age group, high educational, and medium income levels. ConclusionThe results demonstrated that replacement drivers were more significantly associated with presenteeism and absenteeism than paid workers. Further studies are necessary to establish a strategy to decrease the risk factors among replacement drivers.

Labor‐capital relations on digital platforms: Organization, algorithmic discipline and the social factory again

AbstractDigital platform labor and its complex relationship with capital have stirred scholarly inquiry, calling for a systemic review that bridges foundational theories and various currents of development. In this review, we revisit Marxist and autonomist Marxist theses on the changing nature of work in the platform economy. Following that, we review two major strands of studies on the organization of production at the macro level and labour control at the micro level, which have revealed variegated types of workplace fissuring and different techniques of algorithmic control over bodies. However, we argue that the path forward must transcend these boundaries. We call for a revival of the ‘social factory’ thesis to rekindle ‘networking’ as a way of understanding labor‐capital relations on digital platforms. Our premise is that capital and labor mutually constitute the platform economy through their agency of networking the internet and ‘outernet’. We outline four key directions for future research based on this premise: networking with public elements, networking with market‐driven elements, networking for financialization in the digital landscape, and networking for resistance. By reinvigorating the social factory approach, we aim to enrich scholarly understandings of labor‐capital relations in the platform economy by articulating digital labor in a wider web of sociocultural, technical, political and economic relationships extending beyond and transcending the internet.

플랫폼 종사자의 근로자성 국내외 판단사례 연구

This study aims to examine domestic and international cases regarding the labor status of platform workers and explore policy implications for Korea. Recently, the number of platform workers has significantly increased due to technological advancements. Unlike traditional dependent labor, identifying the actual labor provision relationship of platform workers is challenging. Recognizing the worker status of platform workers is also difficult because they often provide forms of labor that do not meet traditional indicators of worker status. In particular, some users tend to misclassify actual workers as independent contractors to avoid the application of labor laws. There is a need to improve the system to protect platform workers who provide labor for others but are not currently protected by the law. Recently, courts in the United States and other countries have acknowledged the worker status of platform workers. It appears that countries recognize the need for legal protection of platform workers and are strengthening protection by introducing flexibility in determining worker status. In the United States, the California Supreme Court, in the Dynamex case, proposed the ʻABC testʼ as a new standard for determining worker status. The ABC test shifts the burden of proof in worker status cases to the employer, requiring them to prove that (A) the laborer is completely free from the employerʼs direction and supervision, both contractually and in practice, in the performance of the work; (B) the work is outside the ordinary course of the employerʼs business; and (C) the laborer is truly self-employed with a separate and independent business in the same field. The California Supreme Court has made it clear that if the employer cannot prove elements A, B, and C, the labor provider is considered an employee, potentially enhancing protections for platform workers. In Korea, the recent ruling by the Seoul High Court in 2023, recognizing the worker status of platform workers (Tada drivers), has garnered significant attention. Beyond the importance of this ruling for the protection of platform workers, failure to develop Koreaʼs worker concept jurisprudence in a more inclusive direction may render labor laws inadequate in safeguarding various new forms of platform labor and those who provide labor through artificial intelligence and algorithms. Indicators for worker determination and measures for protecting labor providers need to evolve to encompass various forms of labor provision, including platform labor. In this regard, it is noteworthy that courts worldwide are increasingly interpreting the worker test to extend protection to platform workers as recognized workers. While the Korean government is actively working to protect platform workers, there is an urgent need for legal protection for the growing number of platform workers. It is essential to study, review, and improve the system by drawing insights from foreign court cases to ensure comprehensive protection for platform workers.

The politics of vulnerability in the influencer economy

While workers of all stripes are compelled to embrace uncertainty under conditions of neoliberalism, ideologies of risk assume a particular guise in the platform economy, wherein laborers are exhorted to ‘put yourself out there’. Given the attendant harms associated with public visibility – especially for women and other marginalized groups – it seems crucial to explore platform-dependent laborers’ experiences of ‘putting themselves out there’. This article draws upon in-depth interviews with 23 social media influencers and content creators, sampled from across platforms, content niches and subjectivities. Our analysis revealed that vulnerability is a structuring concept in the influencer economy – one that operates at multiple, often overlapping levels. First, the commercial logic of authenticity casts personal vulnerability as a strategy for building community and accruing followers. But influencers’ individual disclosures were often entangled with their social identities (e.g., gender, race, sexuality, ability and body type), which rendered them socially vulnerable to targeted antagonism from audiences. Interviewees experienced a range of harms, from identity-based hate and harassment to concerted take-down campaigns. These personal and social vulnerabilities were compounded by the vulnerabilities of platform-dependent labor: not only did participants identify the failures of platforms to protect them, some shared a sense that these companies exacerbated harms through a commercial logic that incentivizes antagonism. After examining the emotional labor necessary to manage such platform vulnerabilities, we close by reiterating the unique precarity of platform labor, wherein participants lack the social and legal protections typically afforded to ‘vulnerable workers’.

The Fragmented Labor Power Composition of Gig Workers: Entrepreneurial Tendency and the Heterogeneous Production of Difference

The literature on digital labor platforms requires a focus beyond techno-utopianism, foregrounding the role of living labor that materially sustains the fantasies of convenience ingrained in platform capitalism. The gig workers embodying living labor exhausted by location-dependent platform work are mainly migrants. Yet, greater understanding of the complexity of difference production and the gigification of work is needed. The article is prompted by the desire to understand the relationship between entrepreneurialized workers and heterogeneously produced differences within the labor power composition of gig workers active on location-based labor platforms. Drawing on ethnographic data produced together with migrant workers engaged in food delivery and cleaning gigs via labor platforms in Helsinki, the article first analyzes the organizing logic of gig work mediated via platforms through the notion of transversal entrepreneurial tendency, and second, the entwined forms of social, legal, and algorithmic difference produced among gig workers. The article argues that differentiation in labor power composition is dynamically related to the interactions required and facilitated by the platforms. The article contributes to discussions on entrepreneurialization in the contemporary world of work and the specific ways in which the social, legal, and algorithmic production of difference shape the constitutive hierarchies of platform labor.

Transcending “flexible time”: Platform labor in the Chinese food delivery industry and its temporal politics

“Flexible time” as a myth in platform labor has been destructed by critical media scholars. However, while previous studies have answered the question of what platform time “isn’t,” most failed to go further in analyzing what “it is.” Based on the 6-month fieldwork, this study aims to re-construct the temporal politics of platform labor in the online food delivery industry in China. Specifically, we employ an inherently relational perspective to analyze three differential temporal themes constructed by heterogeneous actors, namely the “daily time” by third-party subcontractor, “event time” by platform, and “poaching time” by rider. In the investigation of multiple temporalities, this article also uncovers the asymmetrical “relational balancing” among heterogeneous actors in platform labor.

«We are new farmers selling products from rural area»: the labor process to perform authenticity of live e-commerce sellers in China

This article examines the labor process to perform authenticity of live e-commerce sellers, so-called "new farmers", as entrepreneurial subjects, in rural China. The author conducted fieldwork in three live e-commerce teams for one year. Drawing on these data, this article elaborates the exploitative aspect of plat-form labor by describing the tension between mobilization narratives and the labor experience to perform authenticity. These mobilization narratives include interre-lated discourse praising performing authenticity of new farmers, including the ad-vantage of visualization technology, making the marginalized visible, and em-powerment for entrepreneurial individuals. However, these myth obscures the physical labor, gatekeeping process, and necessary capital to construct authentici-ty online. The author concludes by arguing the platform economy demands hybrid labor regime and enhances, instead of improving the social status of marginalized rural subjects.

Moderating for a friend of mine: Content moderation as affective reproduction in Chinese live-streaming

Bridging the theory of affective labor and reproductive labor, this paper proposes “affective reproduction” as a critical framework to analyze the unpaid work of volunteer content moderation. Findings from this study problematize the one-sided focus on streamers in the extant literature on platform labor vis-à-vis live-streaming. It contends that fan moderators help streamers reproduce the live-streaming atmosphere as friendly, pleasant, and relevant, facilitating Internet celebrities’ money-making. This study contributes to studies of digital labor in two ways: 1) it expands the labor and work perspective to the study of content moderation and discloses the indirect value-generating nature of this work; 2) the designation of moderator in Chinese live-streaming platforms reveals a new form of work organization that exploits digital intimacy, transforming platform users into non-professional, secondary cultural workers. The proposed framework is applicable to various forms of participatory media, in which users are encouraged to manage and regulate their peers.

Affective News, Affective Labor: Chinese Female “Little Editors” of WeChat Official Accounts in Australia

In Australia, WeChat Official Accounts is known as a hub for the production and distribution of affective news, or sensationalized content, among Chinese migrants. This article aims to address: Who/What is responsible for this form of content production on WeChat? Who are the people (re)producing news information for WeChat Official Accounts in Australia? How and why do they engage with such activities for Australia-based WeChat Official Accounts? And how do they shed light on our digital culture, economy, and platform labor? To address the questions, from 2019 to 2022, I conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with Chinese-Australian media professionals at both managerial and staff levels as well as conducted a longitudinal ethnographic observation with more than 200 Australia-based WeChat Official Accounts that translate news stories for the Chinese diaspora. The article argues that in Australia affective news on WeChat is the news story that conveys emotional resonance to Chinese migrant readers; it is predominantly produced by Chinese female little editors who work as affective labor. The employment of affective labor, that is, Chinese female international students or postgraduates, has led to the concentration of precarity, exploitation, and alienation among the groups of Chinese female little editors who are vulnerably exposed to the double exclusion coming from both neoliberalism in Australia’s dominant society and patriarchal normativity embedded in the Chinese migrant economy. The research findings shed light on the intensifying social inequality based on one’s race, ethnicity, gender, and social class that has been imposed and further normalized by digital technologies.

Navigating the empty shell: the role of articulation work in platform structures

Abstract This article explores platform workers’ strategies for producing sustainable, quality services within platform structures that simultaneously over- and under-determine their work. We present findings from interviews with U.S.-based mental health professionals (n = 48) working on teletherapy platforms. These therapists describe navigating both the presence of platformic controls and the absence of features supporting professional best practices and regulatory requirements. We describe this absence as the “empty shell” characteristic of platforms and argue that it is a central technique through which platforms create scale. Our findings detail the communicative strategies therapists employ to navigate the empty shell and provide quality care to their clients. These strategies can be seen as a form of “articulation work,” a concept drawn from the sociology of work. Attending to articulation work in an emerging platform labor context, such as teletherapy, contributes to our understanding of the politics of platforms.

The influencer pay gap: Platform labor meets racial capitalism

Existing research emphasizes the precarity of workers engaged in the exchange of goods and services through digital platforms. Yet few studies have systematically examined how racial discrimination shapes the opportunities of platform workers. Here, we focus on influencers, or people who monetize content on social media platforms. Drawing on a mixed-method analysis of 1,082 posts crowdsourced by the @InfluencerPayGap Instagram account, we document three findings. First, while most influencers in our sample received monetary payment for sponsored campaigns, rates are significantly lower than expected based on industry estimates. Second, social media metrics are racialized to justify paying influencers of color less than white influencers. Third, influencers of color are less likely than white influencers to receive monetary compensation or succeed in their negotiations with brands. Contrary to the rhetoric of fairness and democratization promoted by digital platforms, these dynamics reproduce racial domination and undermine collective action among social media influencers.