Antagonism beyond employment
How the 'Subordinated Agency' of Labour Platforms Generates Conflict in the Remote Gig Economy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4237658 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alex J Wood (0000-0003-0569-7145, University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Vili Lehdonvirta (0000-0002-6509-1703, University of Oxford) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1369-1396 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Socio-Economic Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X |
| DOI | 10.1093/ser/mwab016 |
| OpenAlex | W3199898038 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 67 |
| References cited | 70 |
This article investigates why gig economy workers who see themselves as self-employed freelancers also engage in collective action traditionally associated with regular employment. Using ethnographic evidence on the remote gig economy in North America, the UK and the Philippines, we argue that labour platforms increase the agency of workers to contract with clients and thus reduce the risk of false self-employment in terms of the worker-client relationship. However, in doing so, platforms create a new source of subordination to the platform itself. We term this phenomenon 'subordinated agency', and demonstrate that it entails a 'structured antagonism' with platforms that manifests in three areas: fees, competition and worker voice mechanisms. Subordinated agency creates worker desire for representation, greater voice and even unionization towards the platform, while preserving entrepreneurial attitudes towards clients
Agency (philosophy · Business · Competition (biology · Economics · Gig economy · Labour economics · Labour law · Market economy · Political science · Public relations · Representation (politics · Sociology · Subordination (linguistics · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Sharing Economy and Platforms · Taxation and Compliance Studies · Law
Data Justice and the Right to the City
Chapter 10 Data (In)justice, Protest and the (Re)making of Space Among Fragmented Platform Workers
Global Platform Work
Key strategies for organising workers engaged in non-standard employment
Resistansi Pekerja Lepas (Freelance) Desain Grafis di Indonesia terhadap Eksploitasi via Proses Gamifikasi Digital Platform
The Internet and public policy
Platforms, Politics, and Policy Change
K-Pop Idols as Dependent Self-Employment Workers
Contingent workers and innovative digital collective action in Europe. Exploring inclusiveness through political intersectionality
Platforming Autonomy and Applying Control
From Online Gatherings to Industrial Relations Actors
Impact of regulatory and other changes on Australian unions’ strategies and campaigns, 2023–2024
How do trade unions manage themselves? A study of Australian unions’ administrative practices
Collective regulation and the future of work in the digital economy
Conflict and control in the contemporary workplace
Politicized shopping in the gig economy
Visible hands
Under my umbrella? Gig workers' perspectives on career sustainability as employees in Swedish umbrella companies
The Making of the “Good Bad” Job
Structural constraints and psychological need satisfaction among platform-based delivery riders in South Africa
Spatial differentiation in the gig economy
Capitalism in the Platform Age
Familiar Interfaces
Role of Industry 5.0 in leveraging the Business Performance
Designing for justice in freelancing
Time-Based Stress and Procedural Justice
Getting the first gig
Digital Work-Based Spy
Flexibility and freedom suit me better
Organizational perspectives on digital labor market intermediaries
Labor‐capital relations on digital platforms
The Search for Sources of Conflicts
Self-presentation and Success on Digital Platforms by the Example of Construction and Repair Workers
The times, are they changing? Examining platform companies' chameleonic labour process as a response to the Spanish Rey Rider
Varieties of platform capitalism? Competition, regime types and the diversity of food delivery platforms across Europe and North America
Navigating precarity. Theoretical insights into the intersection of digital platform work and migrant labour in the gig economy
Gender and Digital Platform Work During Turbulent Times
Hiding behind the platform
The Machine System of Digital Labor Platforms and the Algorithm as Transmitting Mechanism
Dynamics of contention in the gig economy
Platform couriers' self‐exploitation
Disconnecting labour
Framing algorithmic management
Theorising labour unrest and trade unionism in the platform economy
A tale of two platforms
Performative Algorithmic Deviance
The Potential and Limits of Spontaneous Labor Activism on Social Media
Digital labour platforms and neoliberal governmentality
Contesting Algorithmic Workplace Regimes in an Era of Flexible Despotism
Flickering agency
Zwischen Disruption und Integration
Beyond the ‘Gig Economy
Variations of Freelancers’ “Effort-Bargain” Experiences in Platform Work
Understanding experiences of adverse digital incorporation of ridesharing drivers in Bangladesh
Introduction
Social relations and worker resistance in the platform economy
Support and employment preferences in online platform work
Empowered by consumers
Silicon law of oligarchy
Dualité des espaces de travail et nouvelle forme de subordination
The Place-based Work of Global Circulation
Algorithmic control and resistance in the gig economy
Dynamics of Platform Architecture and Labor Unrest
Voices Beyond the Road
Consent and Contestation
The Sociology of Self-Employment
Platforms Disrupting Reputation
Algorithms that Divide and Unite
Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms
Turkopticon
Vertical Disintegration and the Disorganization of German Industrial Relations 1
Platform Competition in Two-Sided Markets
Bowling alone
The Role of Digital Communities in Organizing Gig Workers
Digital Workerism
The Fissured Workplace
Political Turbulence
Humans as a Service
Online labour index
Political turbulence how social media shape collective action
Trade unions and contingent labour
Collective action and provider classification in the sharing economy
Workers of the Internet unite? Online freelancer organisation among remote gig economy workers in six Asian and African countries
Microphones, not megaphones
Networks and social capital in the UK television industry
Flexibility in the gig economy
Labour process theory and the gig economy
Delivering Solidarity
Hidden transcripts of the gig economy
Will the Gig Economy Prevail
States, social movements and markets
Mapping the frontier of theory in industrial relations
Unlikely activists
Effects of Union Organization on Strike Incidence in EU Companies
Collective action spillover and alternative organizations
Entrepreneurial Solidarities
In the Margins
If He Just Knew Who We Were
Solidarity at Work
Riders on the Storm
Good Gig, Bad Gig
A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms
The evolution of false self-employment in the British construction industry
Mobility strategies, 'mobility differentials' and 'transnational exit
Commodifying institutions
The double indeterminacy of labour power
Networked but Commodified
What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy
The Business of Contingent Work
| Unique citing works | 67 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 13,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 67 |