Mediatization of Social Space and the Case of Uber Drivers

Abstract

Digital data have become a form of “objectivation”, which affect how we construct social knowledge and organize social space (Couldry & Hepp, 2017). The workplace is one sphere that is increasingly datafied. This study explores how Uber drivers, a form of digitally-enabled service workers, contribute to the normalization of the social production of space through their interpretative practices of digital data in an online forum. Drawing on Uber’s corporate discourse and an Uber driver online forum, we analyze two facets of the Uber app and drivers’ mediated experiences: (1) the quantification and discipline of drivers’ performance through Uber’s rating system and (2) the coordination of spatial movement through location-related metrics. We argue that the underlying workings of the Uber app premediate expectations of service encounters and spatial movement. Uber drivers meanwhile develop practices which respond to and circumvent their own data contributions to the system. Drivers’ practices, we argue, are largely in compliance with the calculative logics set by Uber. The article addresses implications of Uber drivers’ practices for the reproduction of social space and power-relations in digitally-enabled service work and the gig economy.

The Rating Game: The Discipline of Uber’s User-Generated Ratings

“…While Owen, Yara, and Adele focused on the ways of interacting with their passengers, a small subset of the interviewees attempted to "game" the rating system. Gaming does not necessarily challenge the calculative logic of the rating system; instead, it may contribute to the internalization of ratings (Chan and Humphreys 2018;Sauder and Espeland 2009). The sign about ratings shown in Figure 1 is telling of drivers' gaming practice.…”

“…Uber manages the workforce through algorithms (Lee et al 2015;Rosenblat 2018). The production and distribution of ratings are one of the disciplinary techniques that are enacted through surveillance (Chan and Humphreys 2018;Rosenblat 2018; see also Sauder and Espeland 2009). Through the rating system, drivers and passengers can rate one another on a five-point scale after each ride.…”

“…In its "community guidelines," Uber (2018) equates a high rating with "good" and "professional" services. Ratings impose a normative standard for service encounters; for example, Uber suggests drivers should convey "friendliness" and offer amenities to passengers (Chan and Humphreys 2018). Drivers' ratings thus represent how well they play the rating game wherein they need to conform to the standard.…”

Media Studies for a Mediatized World: Rethinking Media and Social Space

“…Fast's contribution provides not just a timely call for a "discursive turn" in mediatization studies but also invites readers to question the prevailing discourse of all-encompassing connectivity and how it represents and annihilates certain groups and places in society. Chan and Humphreys (2018) provide an empirical account of how Californian Uber drivers manoeuver and make sense of their quantified and surveilled ways of making a living in the "gig economy". They provide an account of how media re-negotiate social space at the micro level, in the everyday lives of people in particularly mediatized and sometimes precarious lines of work.…”

“…They provide an account of how media re-negotiate social space at the micro level, in the everyday lives of people in particularly mediatized and sometimes precarious lines of work. Uber drivers, Chan and Humphreys (2018) argue, have developed a "distinct algorithmic imaginary" which shapes their practices and thus the production of social space. The article thus contributes to a more detailed and practice-oriented understanding of the increasingly pervasive datafication of social space.…”