{"title":"Labour market digitalization and social class: evidence of mobility and reproduction from a European survey of online platform workers","authors":"Nicholas Martindale, V. Lehdonvirta","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwad049","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The type of work we do as adults is significantly influenced by our parents’ social class. However, digital technologies are transforming the way labour markets work. Candidates are screened using algorithmic decision-making systems. Skills are validated with online tests and feedback ratings. Communications take place online. Could these transformations undermine the advantages that have accrued to workers with privileged backgrounds or reproduce this privilege through digital divides? We examine this question with survey evidence from the online (remote) platform economy, a labour market segment where these digital transformations have progressed furthest (N = 1,001). The results reveal that online platform workers come predominantly from privileged class backgrounds, but we find less evidence of parental class shaping what types of online work they do. We conclude that digital transformations of labour markets may reproduce disparities in access to work but attenuate some class-based differences in the selection of workers by employers.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Socio-Economic Review","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad049","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The type of work we do as adults is significantly influenced by our parents’ social class. However, digital technologies are transforming the way labour markets work. Candidates are screened using algorithmic decision-making systems. Skills are validated with online tests and feedback ratings. Communications take place online. Could these transformations undermine the advantages that have accrued to workers with privileged backgrounds or reproduce this privilege through digital divides? We examine this question with survey evidence from the online (remote) platform economy, a labour market segment where these digital transformations have progressed furthest (N = 1,001). The results reveal that online platform workers come predominantly from privileged class backgrounds, but we find less evidence of parental class shaping what types of online work they do. We conclude that digital transformations of labour markets may reproduce disparities in access to work but attenuate some class-based differences in the selection of workers by employers.
期刊介绍:
Originating in the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), Socio-Economic Review (SER) is part of a broader movement in the social sciences for the rediscovery of the socio-political foundations of the economy. Devoted to the advancement of socio-economics, it deals with the analytical, political and moral questions arising at the intersection between economy and society. Articles in SER explore how the economy is or should be governed by social relations, institutional rules, political decisions, and cultural values. They also consider how the economy in turn affects the society of which it is part, for example by breaking up old institutional forms and giving rise to new ones. The domain of the journal is deliberately broadly conceived, so new variations to its general theme may be discovered and editors can learn from the papers that readers submit. To enhance international dialogue, Socio-Economic Review accepts the submission of translated articles that are simultaneously published in a language other than English. In pursuit of its program, SER is eager to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between sociology, economics, political science and moral philosophy, through both empirical and theoretical work. Empirical papers may be qualitative as well as quantitative, and theoretical papers will not be confined to deductive model-building. Papers suggestive of more generalizable insights into the economy as a domain of social action will be preferred over narrowly specialized work. While firmly committed to the highest standards of scholarly excellence, Socio-Economic Review encourages discussion of the practical and ethical dimensions of economic action, with the intention to contribute to both the advancement of social science and the building of a good economy in a good society.