Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy

Amazon and the Power of Organization
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5292-2654-6
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 222 Seiten, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 486 g

Once hidden behind the veils of entrepreneurship, it is now clear that platforms are reshaping the world of work, and Amazon has been a forerunner in setting the trend.

This book examines two key and contrasting Amazon platforms that differ in how they organize workers: its e-commerce platform and digital labor platform (Mechanical Turk). With access to the people who are working at the heart of these platforms, it explores how different working conditions alienate workers, and how, despite these conditions, workers organize within their political-economic contexts to express their agency in traditional and alternative ways.

Written for social scientists studying and researching the platform economy, this is a timely and important analysis of work and workers on the (digital) shop floor.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kassem, Sarrah

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein Soziale und ethische Aspekte der EDV
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Medien-, Informations und Kommunikationswirtschaft Informationstechnik, IT-Industrie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Arbeitsplatz, Arbeitsschutz, Gefahrstoffschutz

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

Part 1: Examining The World of Work and Workers

2. How to Study Alienation: Marx’s Four Relations

3. How to Grasp Agency: The Power Resources Approach

Part 2: The Birth and Growth of Platforms

4. Historicizing Three Generations of Platforms

5. Contextualizing Amazon’s Growing Empire

Part 3: Workers on the (Digital) Amazon Shop Floor

6. Cog in the Machine: Working the Amazon Circulation Line

7. “I Am Not a Robot”: (Trans)national Labour Organization at the Warehouses

8. “Artificial Artificial Intelligence”: Gigging on Amazon Mechanical Turk

9. Instrumentalizing Technology: Digital Solidarity with and among MTurk Workers

10. Alienation Across Amazon and the Platform Economy

11. The Power of Amazon Workers and Platform Workers

12. Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Kassem, Sarrah
Sarrah Kassem is Lecturer and Research Associate in the field of Political Economy at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen.

Sarrah Kassem is Lecturer and Research Associate in Political Economy at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen.