{"title":"The game of Ride-Pass in platform work: Implementation of Burawoy’s concept of workplace games to app-mediated ride-hailing industry in Poland","authors":"Bartosz Mika, Dominika Polkowska","doi":"10.1177/14614448241236852","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The article provides an argument that the platform is the site of Burawoy’s workplace games. The game observed on the platform used a pattern quite similar to one diagnosed by Burawoy, successfully employing coercion and consent to control the workforce. Control on the platform has a general nature which combines technological, organisational and normative aspects. Work on the app is coordinated by adopting a co-optation strategy, reducing conflicts by enabling mobility, and remuneration from the platform is based on a piece-rate system. Yet, the modern game, labelled in the paper as Ride-Pass, is different from the one described by Burawoy. Due the game is taking place in the service sector, the article argues that it is structured around two mutually connected stakes: working time and self-recognition. The article contributes to the Labour Process Theory, supporting its conclusions with a long-lasting study among Polish platform workers (53 interviews with Uber’s drivers).","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Media & Society","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241236852","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The article provides an argument that the platform is the site of Burawoy’s workplace games. The game observed on the platform used a pattern quite similar to one diagnosed by Burawoy, successfully employing coercion and consent to control the workforce. Control on the platform has a general nature which combines technological, organisational and normative aspects. Work on the app is coordinated by adopting a co-optation strategy, reducing conflicts by enabling mobility, and remuneration from the platform is based on a piece-rate system. Yet, the modern game, labelled in the paper as Ride-Pass, is different from the one described by Burawoy. Due the game is taking place in the service sector, the article argues that it is structured around two mutually connected stakes: working time and self-recognition. The article contributes to the Labour Process Theory, supporting its conclusions with a long-lasting study among Polish platform workers (53 interviews with Uber’s drivers).
期刊介绍:
New Media & Society engages in critical discussions of the key issues arising from the scale and speed of new media development, drawing on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and on both theoretical and empirical research. The journal includes contributions on: -the individual and the social, the cultural and the political dimensions of new media -the global and local dimensions of the relationship between media and social change -contemporary as well as historical developments -the implications and impacts of, as well as the determinants and obstacles to, media change the relationship between theory, policy and practice.