Mecanismos y dinámicas del trabajo en las plataformas digitales: los casos de Airbnb y de las plataformas de reparto

Abstract

The present paper analyses the ways of working and modes of production that configure digital platforms. It argues that different forms of work can emerge in these, but that all of them respond to the transformations of contemporary neoliberalism. The forms in which their configurations and those of their productive processes are given, promote new forms of work and production that break with the standard models to generate new ways of producing surplus value. The paper focuses on the cases of Airbnb and various food delivery and messenger platforms. Some of the characteristics that can be observed are that it is a type of invisible, entrepreneurial work that arises from the reproductive aspect, that is articulated on the basis of unpaid work time, that promotes dynamics of individualization and isolation in the development of this activity or that generates a paradoxical relationship between the feelings of autonomy and freedom as self-employed workers as opposed to a strong deployment of mechanisms of control and organization of work. In order to carry out this research, open semi-structured interviews were conducted with Airbnb hosts and Deliveroo, Glovo, Uber Eats and Stuart deliverers.