The platform economy: A critical appraisal of the contemporary world of work

Today millions of people are seeking employment opportunities on digital labour platforms such as Upwork, Uber, and Amazon Mechanical Turk, among many others. Labour platforms are hailed by some as novel developments with tremendous socio- economic potential. But are platforms really a new phenomenon? What kind of economic activities are being performed via platforms? Who benefits from platforms and who does not? How do workers respond to contradictions on platforms? Adopting a historical and geographical approach while reviewing the burgeoning literature on the platform economy, the chapter attempts to answer these questions. Its key arguments are: (a) the rise of labour platforms must be read within the broader history of the restructuring of capitalism and the globalisation of work; (b) workers’ experiences on platforms are shaped both by the socio-political contexts in which they are embedded, and their identities; and (c) workers adopt a diversity of tactics to resist platforms which are dependent on the work they perform on platforms. The chapter concludes with a few reflections on the future research directions on the platform economy.