Anthropotropism: Searching for Recognition in the Scandinavian Gig Economy

Abstract

By curtailing workplace socialisation, platform-mediated gig work hinders the development of affective relationships necessary for the experience of recognition. However, extant research into recognition at work has typically only focused on face-to-face interactions, overlooking technologically complex forms of work where recognition might be sought from and via technical intermediaries. Advancing sociological research into the lived experience of contemporary gig workers, this article draws on 41 interviews with Foodora riders in Norway and Sweden to explore how gig workers solicit and experience recognition at work. I identify a process of anthropotropism, whereby gig workers turn to human connections where possible in an attempt to pursue traditional social scripts of collegiality and to gain recognition from legitimate human sources. Further, I identify how platform-mediated communication does not prohibit recognition, but intermittent automation and neoliberal modes of instrumentalising recognition can disrupt the development of individual subjectivities and lead to feelings of mechanistic dehumanisation.

From the Substantive to the Ceremonial: Exploring Interrelations Between Recognition and Aspirational CSR Talk

“…As an alternative avenue for future research, scholars might usefully investigate recognition dynamics at the “micro-level” of CSR (Girschik et al, 2022). By drawing on findings from previous studies of how recognition shapes the social conduct of individuals (Fassauer & Hartz, 2016; Islam, 2012; Newlands, 2022), such research could focus on intraorganizational recognition dynamics between CSR professionals and other groups of employees (see also Kok et al, 2019), and how these “scale up” to influence how a corporation engages in CSR. Such an approach could provide crucial insights into how recognition dynamics enable or hinder the integration of CSR into business practices.…”

“…My research also contributes to research on recognition (Fassauer, 2016; Fassauer & Hartz, 2016; Islam, 2012; Newlands, 2022) with the first empirical study of recognition processes in CSR communication. Prior research has mainly investigated recognition in relations between individuals within organizations.…”

Platforms Disrupting Reputation: Precarity and Recognition Struggles In The Remote Gig Economy

“…Our study helps to explain this tension by detailing for the first time some of the dynamic processes through which disembedding and reembedding are carried out in the platform economy, using the issue of reputation as an entry point. Building on Newlands (2022), we also contribute to the sociology of classification and recognition (e.g. Bourdieu, 1977Bourdieu, , 1984Bourdieu, , 1993Herzig, 2017;Honneth, 1995).…”

“…Conceptually, this can be understood through the sociological concept of 'recognition' (Bourdieu, 1977(Bourdieu, , 1984(Bourdieu, , 1993Herzig, 2017;Honneth, 1995), which refers to the manner in which an individual is evaluated by others as legitimate or worthy. Recent research by Newlands (2022) calls attention to contradictions that platforms' rating and ranking systems entail for worker recognition. We build on this research into recognition in platform work by incorporating Bourdieu's (1993Bourdieu's ( , 2019Bourdieu's ( [1982) insight that recognition is, in fact, a site of struggle in which various actors attempt to symbolically define the interpretations, classifications and understandings of the world that matter within a particular field (Bourdieu, 2019(Bourdieu, [1982; Herzig, 2017).…”

Algorithmic Management: Its Implications for Information Systems Research

“…One common suggestion from the symposium was that future research on algorithmic management should not shy away from posing ethical and normative questions. Algorithmic management, in both the gig economy and traditional organizations raises important ethical questions (Möhlmann 2021) around intrinsic values, such as dignity (Lamers et al, 2022), the social valuation of work (Newlands, 2022), privacy/data protection (Ebert et al, 2021;Gal et al, 2020), transparency (Felzmann et al, 2019, 2020, Möhlmann et al, 2023, fairness and discrimination (Köchling & Wehner, 2020, Benlian et al, 2022, accountability (Jarrahi et al, 2020), and trust (Lee, 2018;Schafheitle et al, 2020). This situation offers a unique chance to reinvigorate normative questions regarding the role of intrinsic values in business and shift the focus from an exclusively efficiency-driven perspective on organizations and create space for normatively justifying the importance of alternative values, such as dignity, fairness, and accountability.…”