The meaning of work in platform capitalism: An analysis of audiovisual ads from the gig economy

Abstract

The growth of platform capitalism or gig economy is pervasive in today's labour market. Alongside with a new organization of work and novel labour bonds, which have fragmented and turned workers' experience into precarious work, it is possible to find a prolific production of discourses which aim at legitimizing the business model of the gig economy. Based on an exploratory qualitative research and narrative approach, this paper analyzes three audiovisual ads in their power to shape meaning making around workers' sense of selves, their tasks and the companies they work for. Our findings suggest that these audiovisual productions appeal to positive job traits such as autonomy, flexibility, dynamism, high achievement and social benefits, in an attempt to naturalize, legitimize and obscure power and precarity dynamics that play a key role in platform capitalism.