Forms of collective mobilization and the platform economy//

Funding:

Drees Dares - Programme de recherche "Formes d'économie collaborative et protection sociale"

Project's holder:

Isabelle Daugareilh

Associated team:

Centre Emile Durkheim (UMR 5116) - Gretha (UMR 5113) - Laboratoire de psychologie de l'université de Bordeaux LABPSY

Duration:

4 years: January 2019 - December 2022

Abstract:

The development of the platform economy has seen the return of forms of independent labor associated with the proto-industrial phase of capitalism (with echoes of the “putting-out” system or the canuts of Lyon), a phenomenon referred to as Uberization. Union organization, salaried employment, the institutionalization of employment contracts and social security protection, along with the creation of workers’ cooperatives, were all responses developed in the 19^th and 20^th centuries as part of the struggle against unfair working conditions and pay. The aim of this research project is to examine whether or not these responses are still relevant in the era of platformization, where rights previously taken for granted such as salaries and social security protection have been circumvented, with obstacles set up to hinder the collective organization of independent workers. The project will adopt a multi-disciplinary, comparative approach to identifying, analyzing and evaluating different forms of collective resistance (union organization and cooperation). Data will be collected in two phases of interviews and analysis focused on legal texts. The project should enable us to make a number of proposals regarding the regulation of labor, social protection and the viability of cooperative models based on platforms.