The Political Gig-Economy: Platformed Work and Labour

The notion of work and labor is changing as digital technologies do not only complement and substitute jobs but also decompose them into tasks coordinated by digital labor platforms. We call upon IS research to critically engage with the political economy of platforms and to study them as mechanisms for the extraction of value, distribution of wealth and power, as well as a particular relationship between humans and machines. To this effect, we explore potential conceptual avenues for such engagement by comparing the platforming of work and labor in the gig-economy with the division of labor found in the workshop and the factory. We conclude the distinct characteristics of the political economy of platforms marked by the hidden or invisible work and labor of participants, and new modes of extracting value from their participation