%0 Journal Article %1 stewart2020individualism %A Stewart, Paul %A Shanahan, Genevieve %A Smith, Mark %D 2020 %I Frontiers Media SA %J Frontiers in Sociology %K collective_worker collectivism deindustrialisation digital_capitalism gig_economy gig_workers individualism platform_economy platform_work %N 49 %R 10.3389/fsoc.2020.00049 %T Individualism and Collectivism at Work in an Era of Deindustrialization: Work Narratives of Food Delivery Couriers in the Platform Economy %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00049/full %V 5 %X Supposedly emblematic of digital capitalism, the rise of the gig economy is frequently taken as a cipher for the developing deindustrialisation of western societies. It is tempting to interpret the shift of manufacturing jobs to the global south and their replacement with service sector jobs as a one-way street, leading to the demise of decent work and the rise of work characterized by precarity, low pay, low skill and a non-unionized workforce. However, the reality is inevitably more complex. In the first place, pessimism may be attributed to a rose-tinted view of the experience of former industrial employment in the global north resulting from a questionable assumption about the nature of the jobs that occupied most people in former industrial societies. Certainly, deindustrialisation is not leading to “de-working,” that is, working less for the same money. With respect to gig work, autonomy and flexibility are central to labor inducement and hence labor control. Yet at the same time, and linked to the latter, we need to explore another deep-rooted phenomenon: the persistence of workspace collectivism. Our evidence derives from qualitative interviews with gig workers in the food delivery sector in a number of European countries. We highlight the extent to which couriers profess a variety of understandings of the character of platform economy labor processes. A range of narratives emerge including platform work as leisure, as economic opportunity, and as collectivist labor.

@article{stewart2020individualism, abstract = {Supposedly emblematic of digital capitalism, the rise of the gig economy is frequently taken as a cipher for the developing deindustrialisation of western societies. It is tempting to interpret the shift of manufacturing jobs to the global south and their replacement with service sector jobs as a one-way street, leading to the demise of decent work and the rise of work characterized by precarity, low pay, low skill and a non-unionized workforce. However, the reality is inevitably more complex. In the first place, pessimism may be attributed to a rose-tinted view of the experience of former industrial employment in the global north resulting from a questionable assumption about the nature of the jobs that occupied most people in former industrial societies. Certainly, deindustrialisation is not leading to “de-working,” that is, working less for the same money. With respect to gig work, autonomy and flexibility are central to labor inducement and hence labor control. Yet at the same time, and linked to the latter, we need to explore another deep-rooted phenomenon: the persistence of workspace collectivism. Our evidence derives from qualitative interviews with gig workers in the food delivery sector in a number of European countries. We highlight the extent to which couriers profess a variety of understandings of the character of platform economy labor processes. A range of narratives emerge including platform work as leisure, as economic opportunity, and as collectivist labor. }, added-at = {2020-07-29T12:49:37.000+0200}, author = {Stewart, Paul and Shanahan, Genevieve and Smith, Mark}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/21e8ce8b27b9dcb66958b029f9cdee270/meneteqel}, doi = {10.3389/fsoc.2020.00049}, interhash = {37b0b8bbdc4fd657dfeb1754b13576c2}, intrahash = {1e8ce8b27b9dcb66958b029f9cdee270}, journal = {Frontiers in Sociology}, keywords = {collective_worker collectivism deindustrialisation digital_capitalism gig_economy gig_workers individualism platform_economy platform_work}, language = {eng}, month = jul, number = 49, publisher = {Frontiers Media {SA}}, timestamp = {2020-07-29T12:49:37.000+0200}, title = {Individualism and Collectivism at Work in an Era of Deindustrialization: Work Narratives of Food Delivery Couriers in the Platform Economy}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00049/full}, volume = 5, year = 2020 }