Precarization of platforms: The case of couriers in Spain

Abstract

The platform economy is reorganizing work and altering the way we conceive workers. Algorithmic control, political psychologization of work and big data are the new in this work scenery. Work on home-delivery platforms, aimed especially at young people, is at the heart of the debate on de-laborization, given the conflict that define it in most of countries. Considering a case study in Spain and ethnographic design method, in this article we explore the work and how confrontation emerges. Results show importance of the rise of controls and lack of protection in the organization of work, the development of communicational activism by couriers, and the disputes, also subjective, that are expressed around the issue of labor in the judicialization of the conflict. The results are discussed in light of the trends of neoliberal transformation of work.