Work Precarity and Gig Literacies in Online Freelancing

Abstract

<jats:p> Many workers have been drawn to the gig economy by the promise of flexible, autonomous work, but scholars have highlighted how independent working arrangements also come with the drawbacks of precarity. Digital platforms appear to provide an alternative to certain aspects of precarity by helping workers find work consistently and securely. However, these platforms also introduce their own demands and constraints. Drawing on 20 interviews with online freelancers, 19 interviews with corresponding clients and a first-hand walkthrough of the Upwork platform, we identify critical literacies (what we call gig literacies), which are emerging around online freelancing. We find that gig workers must adapt their skills and work strategies in order to leverage platforms creatively and productively, and as a component of their ‘personal holding environment’. This involves not only using the resources provided by the platform effectively, but also negotiating or working around its imposed structures and control mechanisms. </jats:p>

Data Scientists’ Identity Work: Omnivorous Symbolic Boundaries in Skills Acquisition

“…In a rough description of their practices, data scientists build algorithmic systems for computerised quantitative data analysis. With algorithms, digital platforms and algorithmic management, data scientists ‘disrupt’ the organisation of work in varied settings (Sutherland et al, 2020; Veen et al, 2020; Wood et al, 2019). Furthermore, data scientists interfere through algorithmic systems with the work of specialised high-status professions; for example, algo-trading systems for finance, medical systems and devices and automatic sentencing in the legal system.…”

Don’t Work for Free: Online Discursive Resistance to Precarity in Commercial Photography

“…to knowledge-intensive forms of 'gig working' (e.g. Sutherland et al, 2020) and this article extends existing work to consider how photographers support one another in an increasingly precarious occupation. As the technology required to take and share photographs has become cheaper and more available, the boundaries of 'professional' photography have eroded, and the rules of how photographical work is remunerated have become ambiguous and unfixed.…”

Work–life balance and gig work: ‘Where are we now’ and ‘where to next’ with the work–life balance agenda?

“…One of the main advantages promoted is work-time flexibility (core to years of campaigning to achieve better work-life balance for workers). Rather than being heavily constrained by employer demands (Sutherland et al, 2020), gig workers are offered the prospects of choosing if to work, what work to do, how much work and when to carry it out, where to do it, for how much money and how long to stay with any one work-provider. These muchvaunted benefits are marketed to working-class women and men, not only to professional workers, and different platforms have quite different worker profiles.…”