Labor order under digital control: research on labor control of take-out platform riders

Abstract

Following Marx’s analysis of technical control, this article studies the labor process of take-out riders from the perspectives of organizational and scientific technology. On the one hand, by redistributing control power, the platform system (software) and consumers replace the platform company (manager) to manage take-out riders. Although the platform company seems to have given up direct control over riders, it downplays the employer’s responsibility and transfers labor conflicts to the platform system and consumers. On the other hand, digital control has changed from physical machines and computer equipment to virtual software and data. The platform system makes labor order possible by subtly collecting and analyzing data from riders and using these data analysis results to manage them. Thus, digital control not only weakens riders’ willingness to resist and gradually reduces their autonomy but also “invites” them to participate in an implicit process of self-management. The control methods of capital change not only from autocracy to hegemony but also from physical to virtual.