Platform Economics: Rhetoric and Reality in the ‘Sharing Economy’

Abstract

The Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy and Culture in Network Communication series focuses on the political use of digital everyday networked media by corporations, governments, international organisations (Digital Politics) as well as civil society actors, NGOs, activists, social movements and dissidents (Digital Activism) attempting to recruit, organise and fund their operations through information communication technologies. The series publishes books on theories and empirical case studies of digital politics and activism in the specific context of communication networks. Topics covered by the series include, but are not limited to: ⦁ the different theoretical and analytical approaches of political communication in digital networks; ⦁ studies of socio-political media movements and activism (and 'hacktivism'); ⦁ transformations of older topics such as inequality, gender, class, power, identity and group belonging; ⦁ strengths and vulnerabilities of social networks.

Quantity and Quality of Work in the Platform Economy

“…As introduced in Section 2, Eurofound (2018a) provides a taxonomy similar to Codagnone et al (2019), which classifies platform according to economic sector, presence of platform work (a form of employment that uses an online platform to enable organisations or individuals to access other organisations or individuals to solve problems or to provide services in exchange for payment), type of goods/services that are traded and/or tasks that are performed within the platform perimeter. Focusing on Europe, Eurofound (2018) has identified 10 types of platforms, having reached a considerable size in terms of turnover and number of workers involved.…”

“…As revised in detail by Codagnone et al (2016) and Codagnone et al (2019), the debate on platforms has been fuelled by discourses advertising the matching mechanism behind platforms; however, the same narrative has stimulated an entire set of critical contributions focusing on the rhetorical and discourse analysis of platforms. Such kind of analysis is not new and as acknowledged by Hirschman (1977) would be of a leading importance given that ideas and rhetoric become endogenous engines of social change, reforms, and policies.…”

“…Uber), and problems of co-ordination of multiple contractors induced platform towards an increase of control over the terms of trade. Besides control, Codagnone et al (2019) argue that there are two additional dimensions which should be disentangled: a) whether transactions are fully online, or there is a physical delivery, i.e. Online Labour Markets (OLMs) that are potentially global, versus Mobile Labour Markets (MLMs) that are by definition localised; and b) what type of tasks are traded and what skills are required to deliver them (low skills mostly routine or manual vs high skills and mostly cognitive and interactive).…”

Digital Labor Solidarities, Collective Formations, and Relational Infrastructures

“…The highlights are Sindmaap, from Brasilia -a union with 30 thousand workers and affiliated to the largest central of workers in Brazil, CUT -and Ampa, from Rio de Janeiro, an association whose leader has helped to create other associations (such as the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais) and led the creation of the league of app drivers associations in Brazil, which aims to be nationally recognized as the main organization in the country. The research methodology involves analysis of the organizations' websites and interviews with leaders of associations and unions, emphasizing discursive aspects (Codagnone, Karatzogianni & Matthews, 2018). The analysis presents the following dimensions: a) ideologies and worldviews of organizations about (digital) labor, including the main demands of workers; b) the role of digital platforms in the institutionalization of the organization of app-drivers and the material dimension of the organizational form.…”

From Factory to Platform: Autonomy and Control in the Digital Economy

“…С другой стороны, небезосновательно высказывается мнение, что в условиях потенциально безграничного разнообразия характеристик платформ попытки построения их всеобъемлющей классификации бесперспективны и практически не осуществимы[Prassl, Risak 2015]. 2 В экономической теории такие платформы концептуализируются как двусторонние (two-sided) или многосторонние (multi-sided) рынки[Codagnone, Karatzogianni, Matthews 2018]. 3 Термин «теневая корпорация» (shadow corporation) заимствован из работы Г.Фридмана[Friedman 2014], однако в рамках данной статьи он получает новую интерпретацию, в том числе в рамках предложенной типологии.…”