Necrocapitalism in the Gig Economy: The Case of Platform Food Couriers in Australia

Abstract

Although recent deaths of multiple couriers on the road have raised awareness of the dangers of on‐demand food delivery, there remains limited government regulation of the industry in many jurisdictions. In this article, we argue that the labour conditions of platform couriers in Australia constitute a case of necrocapitalism (Banerjee), a contemporary form of accumulation through which organisational structures harness the power of debilitation and death for economic gain. After contextualising food delivery within the Australian gig economy, our analysis underscores how necropower operates through courier labour. We illustrate three dimensions: how this form of labour entails corporeal risks and harms; how these harms are heightened by platform infrastructures; and how strategic regulatory inaction maintains necropolitical orders. The article concludes with a reflection on how this contemporary example of necrocapitalism illuminates intersecting vectors of domination underpinning the logics and practices of platform governance.

Citizen‐rentier‐ship: Delivering the Undocumented to Labour Platforms in Paris

“…He recognises that the platform puts him in a dangerous situation and that the delivery time is more important than his safety. The pressure platforms exert on their riders for faster delivery exacerbates the danger of their job-as has been reported by researchers in Australia (Bissell 2021;Orr et al 2023). Erio also recognises his role in France as an outsider (" etranger") doing cheap labour for a platform that takes no responsibility for his wellbeing.…”

“…Urban cyclists and platform riders face the same dangers-car doors suddenly opening, cars blindly turning into bike lanes, trucks parked in bike lanes, oblivious pedestrians, and rude clients. Orr et al (2023) use the concept of necropolitics to understand how various systems of oppression (migration status, economic, and/or racialisation) put riders in difficult and dangerous situations. They accept working conditions that can lead to physical injuries and even death.…”

“…Neoliberal labour markets allowed for urban development to be built on the work of the most precarious. For Orr et al (2023), the uneven experiences within racial capitalism show that the pursuit of capital is more important than the safety and wellbeing of the most precarious. As Erio puts it, racism and colonialism permeates everyday interactions between the riders, the clients, and the platforms:…”

What's Talent Got to Do with It? The Collective Labourer and the Rise of Barcelona's Digital Economy

“…The gig economy is riven with intersectional patterns of inclusion and exclusion (Zanoni and Pitts 2023). While gendered forms of white-collar fixed-term and gig work have proliferated in recent years (James 2022), manual platform-mediated labour is especially more detrimental for women, who are routinely more likely to experience harassment, abuse, and lower pay (Carnegie 2023), as well as for the very many racialised delivery workers resigned to the risk of physical injury, neglect, and dispossession as being integral to the labour processes in which they participate (Orr et al 2023).…”

Guest editorial: challenging the coloniality of raced markets

“…The article by Anne-Maree O’Rourke, Alex Belli and Frank Mathmann, entitled “Mitigating implicit racial bias in tipping: When direct and indirect experience matters”, focuses on the effect of racial stereotyping on workers in gig-based service economies. Because “racialised logics are embedded within gig economy work relations”, this increasingly evident normalization has limited and slowed ameliorating changes (Orr et al , 2023, p. 204). Conceptualizing tipping behaviours as implicitly biased compensatory mechanisms towards minority service staff, they found longer unrated service encounters induce larger tips, shorter rated service encounters induce more equitable tips and tips and ratings for minority service staff correlate positively.…”