Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0007
M. Legault, Johanna Weststar
A long-term study of videogame developers reveals that they face challenging working conditions and wish for unionisation, although they remain mostly non-unionised. In the broad corpus of literature on propensity to unionise, scholars often offer different explanations of feeble propensity among precarious workers in low-skilled jobs, on the one hand, and those in knowledge work, on the other. We contend that this neglects a larger shared context of increasing financialisation of organisations that has a deterrent effect on intentions to unionise. The effect of financialisation on workers’ representation of interests is less studied than the process of financialisation itself and its effect on worsening working conditions. Yet financial stakeholders are now important labour relations actors even while not formally present in the system. We draw on literature on propensity to unionise and new actors in labour relations to include the effect of financialisation and challenge the dichotomous explanation of propensity to unionise that opposes low-skilled jobs to knowledge work.
{"title":"Organising challenges in the era of financialisation: The case of videogame workers","authors":"M. Legault, Johanna Weststar","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0007","url":null,"abstract":"A long-term study of videogame developers reveals that they face challenging working conditions and wish for unionisation, although they remain mostly non-unionised. In the broad corpus of literature on propensity to unionise, scholars often offer different explanations of feeble propensity among precarious workers in low-skilled jobs, on the one hand, and those in knowledge work, on the other. We contend that this neglects a larger shared context of increasing financialisation of organisations that has a deterrent effect on intentions to unionise. The effect of financialisation on workers’ representation of interests is less studied than the process of financialisation itself and its effect on worsening working conditions. Yet financial stakeholders are now important labour relations actors even while not formally present in the system. We draw on literature on propensity to unionise and new actors in labour relations to include the effect of financialisation and challenge the dichotomous explanation of propensity to unionise that opposes low-skilled jobs to knowledge work.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73001720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0085
Allegretti, Holz, Rodrigues
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface some problems and trends within digital platforms, including working conditions, while simultaneously transforming the relationship between platform capitalism and the pandemic complex. Through the case analysis of Uber in Lisbon, we were able to identify a situation where several ambiguities emerged, some of which are associated with the Portuguese singularity of intermediary platform capitalism. From this analysis, anchored to several interviews with Uber drivers/partners, we observed that the pandemic crisis has aggravated some inequalities and problems generally associated with platform capitalism, but also seen new trends and solutions emerge for a political and socio-economic reformulation of this sector.
{"title":"At a crossroads: Uber and the ambiguities of the COVID-19 emergency in Lisbon","authors":"Allegretti, Holz, Rodrigues","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0085","url":null,"abstract":"The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface some problems and trends within digital platforms, including working conditions, while simultaneously transforming the relationship between platform capitalism and the pandemic complex. Through the case analysis of Uber in Lisbon, we were able to identify a situation where several ambiguities emerged, some of which are associated with the Portuguese singularity of intermediary platform capitalism. From this analysis, anchored to several interviews with Uber drivers/partners, we observed that the pandemic crisis has aggravated some inequalities and problems generally associated with platform capitalism, but also seen new trends and solutions emerge for a political and socio-economic reformulation of this sector.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74227149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0025
Padmini Sharma
The development of platform capitalism is restructuring social relations across the globe by altering traditional hierarchical structures, internal labour relations and their micro-political interactions. Digitally mediated platforms appear to be changing relational dynamics, contributing to a growth in individualisation among the workers. The platform economy, in general, and ride-hailing services, in particular, represent an emerging capitalistic regime that is breeding a working class with often contradictory class locations and class positions. Because the class dimension in the existing literature concerning platform workers in India has been less critically approached, this research intends to use class-based theorisation to analyse capital–labour relations in the ride-hailing service, with the aim of reflecting on the linkages between class location, class consciousness and class practices among the workers. This article highlights how the internal contradictions, combined with the external structural factors, lead to growing instrumental collectivism among the platform working class that falls short of challenging the capitalistic platform regime.
{"title":"Contested social relations in the platform economy: Class structurisation and collectivisation in ride-hailing services in India","authors":"Padmini Sharma","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0025","url":null,"abstract":"The development of platform capitalism is restructuring social relations across the globe by altering traditional hierarchical structures, internal labour relations and their micro-political interactions. Digitally mediated platforms appear to be changing relational dynamics, contributing to a growth in individualisation among the workers. The platform economy, in general, and ride-hailing services, in particular, represent an emerging capitalistic regime that is breeding a working class with often contradictory class locations and class positions. Because the class dimension in the existing literature concerning platform workers in India has been less critically approached, this research intends to use class-based theorisation to analyse capital–labour relations in the ride-hailing service, with the aim of reflecting on the linkages between class location, class consciousness and class practices among the workers. This article highlights how the internal contradictions, combined with the external structural factors, lead to growing instrumental collectivism among the platform working class that falls short of challenging the capitalistic platform regime.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88012287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0007
Huws, Frapporti
Introducing this issue, this paper reflects on the role of peer-reviewed research in documenting and analysing the restructuring of labour under rapidly changing global conditions. It summarises the contents of the issue, placing it in the context not only of the 2020-2021 global COVID-19 pandemic, but also in relation to past theoretical debates in the pages of this journal about the dynamics of platform capitalism.
{"title":"Digitalisation, labour and the pandemic: Working life in the post-COVID-19 city","authors":"Huws, Frapporti","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Introducing this issue, this paper reflects on the role of peer-reviewed research in documenting and analysing the restructuring of labour under rapidly changing global conditions. It summarises the contents of the issue, placing it in the context not only of the 2020-2021 global COVID-19 pandemic, but also in relation to past theoretical debates in the pages of this journal about the dynamics of platform capitalism.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73263761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0069
J. Schreyer
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the conflictual nature of work in the digital platform economy as if it were ignited under a magnifying glass. In this context, this article focuses on the logic of control of algorithmic labour coordination, adopting a qualitative case study approach. In a situation in which the technical infrastructure of online platforms generally impedes labour protests, it examines the case of Lieferando (formerly Foodora) in Germany, where, unusually, the on-demand workforce is employed. It concludes that in this situation, the algorithmic management of Lieferando facilitates labour protests because of a lack of communication between employer and worker. Furthermore, in the COVID-19 pandemic, institutionalised relationships function as a countervailing power to that of the employer, forcing it to act.
{"title":"Algorithmic work coordination and workers' voice in the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Foodora/Lieferando","authors":"J. Schreyer","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.1.0069","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the conflictual nature of work in the digital platform economy as if it were ignited under a magnifying glass. In this context, this article focuses on the logic of control of algorithmic labour coordination, adopting a qualitative case study approach. In a situation in which the technical infrastructure of online platforms generally impedes labour protests, it examines the case of Lieferando (formerly Foodora) in Germany, where, unusually, the on-demand workforce is employed. It concludes that in this situation, the algorithmic management of Lieferando facilitates labour protests because of a lack of communication between employer and worker. Furthermore, in the COVID-19 pandemic, institutionalised relationships function as a countervailing power to that of the employer, forcing it to act.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90601118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0047
Hlongwa
{"title":"The city as an algorithmic formation: insights from patent data","authors":"Hlongwa","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0047","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"14 1","pages":"47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73771391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0119
Marrone, Peterlongo
{"title":"Where platforms meet infrastructures: digital platforms, urban resistance and the ambivalence of the city in the Italian case of Bologna","authors":"Marrone, Peterlongo","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0119","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"66 1","pages":"119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76309405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0067
Paola Tubaro, Clément Le Ludec, Antonio A. Casilli
'Micro-work' consists of fragmented data tasks that myriad providers execute on online platforms. While crucial to the development of data-based technologies, this little visible and geographically spread activity is particularly difficult to measure. To fill this gap, we combined qualitative and quantitative methods (online surveys, in-depth interviews, capture-recapture techniques, and web traffic analytics) to count micro-workers in a single country, France. On the basis of this analysis, we estimate that approximately 260,000 people are registered with micro-work platforms. Of these some 50,000 are 'regular' workers who do micro-tasks at least monthly and we speculate that using a more restrictive measure of 'very active' workers decreases this figure to 15,000. This analysis contributes to research on platform labour and the labour in the digital economy that lies behind artificial intelligence.
{"title":"Counting ‘micro-workers’: societal and methodological challenges around new forms of labour","authors":"Paola Tubaro, Clément Le Ludec, Antonio A. Casilli","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0067","url":null,"abstract":"'Micro-work' consists of fragmented data tasks that myriad providers execute on online platforms. While crucial to the development of data-based technologies, this little visible and geographically spread activity is particularly difficult to measure. To fill this gap, we combined qualitative and quantitative methods (online surveys, in-depth interviews, capture-recapture techniques, and web traffic analytics) to count micro-workers in a single country, France. On the basis of this analysis, we estimate that approximately 260,000 people are registered with micro-work platforms. Of these some 50,000 are 'regular' workers who do micro-tasks at least monthly and we speculate that using a more restrictive measure of 'very active' workers decreases this figure to 15,000. This analysis contributes to research on platform labour and the labour in the digital economy that lies behind artificial intelligence.","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82816217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.2.0081
Monika Huesmann, M. Calveley, Paul Smith, C. Forson, Lisa Rosenbaum
Although governments and higher education institutions across Europe are promoting agendas for widening the educational participation and increasing the social mobility of young people from lower socio-economic groups, very little has been written about the experiences of these individuals when seeking and entering employment. We aim to address this gap. Using a qualitative research approach, we explore the career expectations, experiences and limitations of first-generation university engineering students and graduates in Germany. The article draws upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu to demonstrate how social and cultural capitals instilled by parents and social peers are invaluable in developing personal and professional networks and eventual entry into the engineering professions. A lack of, or underdeveloped, capitals can inhibit career opportunities and ultimately the social mobility and professional choices of graduate engineers. Our research discovered that university graduates from less advantaged backgrounds face a ‘class ceiling’ at university, in obtaining an internship and then when gaining entry to and
{"title":"The sticky steps of the career ladder for engineers: the case of first-generation students in Germany","authors":"Monika Huesmann, M. Calveley, Paul Smith, C. Forson, Lisa Rosenbaum","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.2.0081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.2.0081","url":null,"abstract":"Although governments and higher education institutions across Europe are promoting agendas for widening the educational participation and increasing the social mobility of young people from lower socio-economic groups, very little has been written about the experiences of these individuals when seeking and entering employment. We aim to address this gap. Using a qualitative research approach, we explore the career expectations, experiences and limitations of first-generation university engineering students and graduates in Germany. The article draws upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu to demonstrate how social and cultural capitals instilled by parents and social peers are invaluable in developing personal and professional networks and eventual entry into the engineering professions. A lack of, or underdeveloped, capitals can inhibit career opportunities and ultimately the social mobility and professional choices of graduate engineers. Our research discovered that university graduates from less advantaged backgrounds face a ‘class ceiling’ at university, in obtaining an internship and then when gaining entry to and","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73485816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0101
Henrique Amorim, Felipe Bruner Moda
Globalisation, como parte do dossiê “The Algorithm and the City”. Este artigo é fruto de pesquisa desenvolvida com o apoio de Bolsa de Produtividade em Pesquisa (PQ) e do Auxílio Universal do Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) e com o Auxílio Regular da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Agradecemos a revisão e as considerações do Grupo de Pesquisa Classe Social e Trabalho da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (GPCT) no qual esse artigo foi debatido. 2 Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Rua Sena Madureira, 1500 – Vila Clementino, São Paulo (SP). Trabalho por aplicativo: gerenciamento algorítmico e condições de trabalho dos motoristas da Uber1
全球化,作为“算法与城市”档案的一部分。这篇文章是在研究生产力奖学金(PQ)和国家科学和技术发展委员会(CNPq)的普遍援助以及sao保罗研究基金会(FAPESP)的定期援助下进行的研究的结果。我们感谢sao保罗联邦大学(GPCT)的社会阶层和工作研究小组对这篇文章的审查和考虑。2 sao保罗联邦大学(UNIFESP)。sao Paulo (SP) - Vila Clementino, sao Paulo (SP)。应用工作:Uber1司机的算法管理和工作条件
{"title":"Work by app: algorithmic management and working conditions of Uber drivers in Brazil","authors":"Henrique Amorim, Felipe Bruner Moda","doi":"10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0101","url":null,"abstract":"Globalisation, como parte do dossiê “The Algorithm and the City”. Este artigo é fruto de pesquisa desenvolvida com o apoio de Bolsa de Produtividade em Pesquisa (PQ) e do Auxílio Universal do Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) e com o Auxílio Regular da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Agradecemos a revisão e as considerações do Grupo de Pesquisa Classe Social e Trabalho da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (GPCT) no qual esse artigo foi debatido. 2 Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Rua Sena Madureira, 1500 – Vila Clementino, São Paulo (SP). Trabalho por aplicativo: gerenciamento algorítmico e condições de trabalho dos motoristas da Uber1","PeriodicalId":52161,"journal":{"name":"Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation","volume":"7 1","pages":"101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77731208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}