Pandelivery¹: Reflections on black delivery app workers experiences during COVID‐19 in Brazil

Abstract

This article reflects on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of black men who work as app delivery workers in Brazil. The coronavirus spread affected the demand for delivery services in the last mile delivery without necessarily improving working conditions. We highlight not only how structural racism shapes the daily lives of these workers, revealing experiences of inequality, marginalization, suffering, but also their resistance strategies.

Politics of on‐demand food delivery: Policy design and the power of algorithms

“…Huang, 2022b; Lee, 2018; Moore, 2018; Sun, 2019). In so doing, algorithm‐based technology contributes to upholding existing socio‐economic class hierarchies (Cant, 2019; Cant & Woodcock, 2020; Lage & Rodrigues, 2021; Lee, 2018; van Doorn et al, 2020).…”

“…Lee, 2018; Marrone & Peterlongo, 2020). Studying black couriers in Brazil, Lage and Rodrigues (2021, pp. 438–439) found that their pay has dropped during the COVID‐19 pandemic despite working on average 9–12 h per day while “being perceived or identified as a criminal because of his appearance.” What is unique about the platform economy, Stark and Pais (2021, p. 47) tell us, is how the platform owners “co‐opt the behavior of providers and users, enrolling them in the practices of algorithmic management without managerial authority having been delegated to them.”…”

“…Research into modern food delivery has confirmed how delivery apps altered the ways people consume food in the developed West (Bissell, 2020; Dolibog, 2020; see commentary by Nunn, 2021), and in emerging economies (Ahmed & Ahmed, 2018; Chotigo & Kadono, 2022; Huang, 2022a; Lage & Rodrigues, 2021; Sun, 2019). But this research has also grown beyond the focus on consumer behavior.…”

Algocracia: Uma análise crítica sobre a gestão mediada por algoritmos

“…In organizational studies, the relevance and emergence of understanding the topic are seen in full theoretical reflections and recent literature reviews that address algorithmically mediated management and its potential impacts (Kellogg et al, 2020;Trittin-Ulbrich et al, 2020;Brevini & Pasquale, 2020). Among the consequences discussed, studies related to algorithms and organizations reveal the possibility that data management interferes in various aspects of organizational dynamics, such as the formation and relationships of social groups in the organizational environment (Vaast, 2020;Lage & Rodrigues, 2020), fantasies of digitization in the workplace (Hensmans, 2020), loss of privacy (Anteby & Chan, 2018;Rosenblat & Stark, 2016;Woodcock, 2020); algorithmic control of work Curchod et al, 2019;Faraj et al, 2018), and workers' habits (Elmholdt et al, 2020) such as algo activity or workers' activism movements (Kellogg et al, 2020;Mercea & Yilmaz, 2018;Petriglieri et al, 2019;Mercea & Yilmaz, 2018;Etter & Albu, 2020;Birch, 2020;Petriglieri et al, 2019).…”

“…In Brazil, efforts to investigate the relationship between technology and organizations are mostly advancing in the sociology of work (Abilio, 2020;Filgueiras & Antunes, 2020;Grohmann & Qiu, n.d.), and communication (Bruno et al, 2018;Silva & Birhane, 2020). In the area of administration, some recent studies have been limited to addressing the phenomenon of uberization (Insardi & Lorenzo, 2019;Kalil & Lopes, 2018;Serrano & Baldanza, 2017;Valente et al, 2019;Vianna et al, 2018), with a few adopting critical perspectives (Lage & Rodrigues, 2020;André et al, 2019;Franco & Ferraz, 2019;Guimarães Pinho, 2009;Antonio & Caetano, 2006;Fernandes & Raduenz, 2020;Oliveira Abensur, 2007;Vianna & Meneghetti, 2020).…”