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Platform couriers' self-exploitation : the case study of Glovo
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0268-1072; 1468-005X
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New technology, work and employment, 2023, Vol. 38. No. 3, pp. 493-512
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FERRAZ VIEIRA, Tiago Alexandre, Platform couriers’ self-exploitation : the case study of Glovo, New technology, work and employment, 2023, Vol. 38. No. 3, pp. 493-512 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75616
Abstract
This article examines the phenomenon of self-exploitation among platform couriers, using the company Glovo as a case study. The research, based on a qualitative approach with interviews from 22 different stakeholders, highlights the ways in which precarity, entrepreneurial subjectivity, and gamification intersect to create what are referred to as postdisciplinary control mechanisms. These mechanisms shift the locus of exploitation from the employer to the workers' inner selves, which are compelled to follow implicit guidelines due to their precarious situation. The use of algorithmic management by platform companies like Glovo plays a major role in this architecture marked by overwork, exposure to hazardous conditions, and economic dependence. The article urges policymakers to look beyond platform workers' employment status debate and address the design of algorithms and broader forms of labour precarity, so that policies that successfully improve workers' experience are designed.
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Published online: 24 May 2023
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This article was published Open Access with the support from the EUI Library through the CRUI - Wiley Transformative Agreement (2020-2023)