30229

WiSe 20/21: An Emerging Digital Precariat? Work in the Global Platform Economy

Stefan Schmalz

Information for students

There is quota of places reserved for LAI students. Please contact the course instructor, if you are a LAI student wishing to take the course

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A sea change in the global economy has been taking place over the past few years. New powerful transnational digital companies such as Amazon, Uber, Facebook, Alibaba and Deliveroo have emerged and begun to shape the economy. These companies are not only challenging (or even outcompeting) traditional business, but are also aggressively pushing flexible, precarious work models, thereby lowering labor standards, bypassing labor laws and weakening organized labor. For instance, insecure and flexible work on demand in the delivery sector, repetitive taylorist work in online retailing, and forms of affective labor in social media’s content cleaning business are new realities for workers. In the course, the students will both analyze different forms of labor in the platform economy in different world regions (e.g. Europe, US and Latin America, East Asia) and learn more about theories of platform capitalism and digital labor. close