Holly Evans
n the digital age a new generation of workers have gravitated towards apps on phone screens. These workers are known as part of the ‘sharing’ or ‘gig’ economy because of the freelance nature of their work through online platforms. They are under this umbrella despite vast differences in their labour and incentives. Workers join apps like Airbnb, Kitchensurfing, TaskRabbit, or Uber under the assumption of gaining economic and personal freedom, however, these promises often prove false. While the gig economy is marketed as an opportunity to make fast cash on your own terms, there are issues of workers rights, surveillance, and power imbalances that are consistently overlooked.
Two articles that prove useful in understanding dynamics in the gig economy and the issues listed above are: A Return to Gemeinschaft: Digital Impression Management and the Sharing Economy by Alexandra J Ravenelle and Simmel on Social Relations and Group Affiliations by Clayton D. Peoples. Ravenelle’s article has the obvious connection of being a study about the sharing economy and how the presentation of self functions within it. However, Peoples’ article, despite not discussing the gig economy, contributes a useful lens which works well with Ravenelle’s article to produce a more holistic understanding of the gig economy. Peoples’ article benefits from having the context to apply the perspective of micro sociology in order to show its merit, and Ravenelle’s benefits from the perspective itself. While Ravenelle utilizes micro sociology, in order for a reader to gain a greater understanding of the gig economy, more needs to be examined with regard to the impact of having a platform mediate connection.
In beginning with Peoples’ article, it is important to note key terms and state who Simmel is first. Georg Simmel is a sociologist who states that social relations are “what make the individual, and, thus, what ultimately creates society,” (Peoples, 49). He claims to use micro sociology to examine social relations between both individuals and entities in order to understand larger social structures. In this article Peoples’ highlights Simmel’s discussions of the dyad (a relationship involving two elements) and the triad (a relationship involving three elements), power relationships, the philosophy of money, and group affiliations (both connecting factors between group members and with other groups). Throughout their article, Peoples argues that Simmel’s focus on micro processes “…obscures larger structural considerations and leaves a number of important macro-level questions unanswered…” (Peoples’, 55). Despite this, Peoples acknowledges that micro perspectives assist in understanding power in relationships and class formations/mobility. When applied to the gig economy, we will see the benefit of these discussions in understanding how interactions between worker, client, and platform contributes to and perpetuates inequities
Shifting to Ravenelle’s article, they discuss how the sharing economy turns “neighbors helping neighbors” into a quantifiable and reviewable performance,” (Ravenelle, 42). This article focuses on workers using impression management to market themselves. Observations in this study are through Erving Goffman’s work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959). Ravenelle discusses how workers are judged within minutes on a screen rather than through continued interaction. Workers must uphold a pristine image of themselves, while keeping everything realistic, in order to gain business. Interviewees discuss how they curate photos and monitor reviews in order to promote themselves. There is fear and excitement around reviews because of the awareness that bad reviews can cause immediate termination and good reviews can increase business. Overall, this article provides a solid foundation for understanding certain aspects of the gig economy, specifically the concept of surveillance.
In Ravenelle’s article they provided examples that could address issues of workers rights and power imbalances when examined through the lens of Peoples’. I will point out one example for each of the four concepts from Simmel discussed in Peoples’ article and briefly explain the connection.
Firstly, using a platform as a mediator between worker and client creates a triadic relationship. This is important because despite being a triadic relationship, interactions are often still treated as dyadic by clients. For example, people may leave negative reviews without acknowledging the third element’s ability to immediately terminate the worker due to that review. Secondly, in relation to power relationships, Ravenelle discusses how being part of the gig economy is like a constant job search while being under the surveillance of reviews. The missing piece here is the discussion of how the gig economy can confine people to this work through cutting their wages or encouraging them to work strange hours. This is common with Uber, a platform not mentioned. Simmel’s concept of domination requires both parties to enter a “… mutually interdependent relationship whereby they need each other,” (Peoples’, 51) which illuminates the strategies these platforms implement to maintain their workforce. Additionally, Ravenelle discusses the gig economy as the “servant economy,” stating it encourages those with disposable income to hire those without. These strategies used to maintain workers alongside encouraging clients to hire out of convenience falls under Peoples’ discussion of the philosophy of money. The labour power of workers is stripped through this inclusion of the platform, and they are continuously paid less than the value of their work as their wages plummet over time. Then lastly, group affiliation as discussed in Peoples’ article mentions workers uniting under common struggles despite difference in work. In the gig economy, workers may not have the same incentives for participating. Ravenelle referenced a TaskRabbit worker who name-dropped Stanford in order to maintain business, which is an ability many workers may not have. Educational and economic background varies in the gig economy making it difficult to come together and fight back against platforms. These observations using micro sociology when taken together paint a larger picture of what it means to be a part of the gig economy. This is why these articles should be read together, one informs the other in a way that creates a greater understanding of the topic as a whole.