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Omschrijving
Christiaens argues that digital technologies are fundamentally undermining workers’ autonomy by enacting systems of surveillance that lead to exploitation, alienation, and exhaustion. For a more sustainable future of work, digital technologies should support human development instead of subordinating it to algorithmic control.
The global financial crisis of 2007 ushered in the "digital gig economy" and, with it, promises of emancipating workers from human bosses and providing worker autonomy. Digital platforms, such as Uber and Airbnb, offered workers freedom from the traditional labor contract and touted that both individuals and the public would benefit from the platforms' use of idle resources. In Digital Working Lives, Christiaens defines the digital gig economy and studies the work-related problems of digital surveillance. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals.
In sum, Digital Working Lives points to a concrete path to realizing the convivial autonomy of digital workers. The goal of the book is not to provide a way for people to totally get rid of ‘bullshit jobs’. Rather, gig work should be redesigned to be better compatible with human autonomy. Overall, this book is an insightful read for students and scholars interested in understanding the current situation of the working class and ways to emancipate the convivial autonomy in gig work.
A penetrating and rigorous analysis of the digital gig economy and an inspiring account of how digital labour platforms could be reformed to become convivial tools. Tim Christiaens provides an essential read for anyone who believes in the emancipatory potential of modern technology.
In the digital gig economy, the promise of autonomy is all too often broken. Creatively drawing on a range of less well-known authors, Christiaens rethinks the possibilities of digital technology to support, rather than undermine, workers’ autonomy. A wonderfully clearly written book, on an important topic, which I warmly recommend.
Tim Christiaens is assistant professor of economic ethics at the Department of Philosophy of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. His research focuses mainly on contemporary economic issues, such as financialization, socio-economic exclusion, and the digitalization of work, viewed through Italian and French critical theory (Foucault, post-workerism, Deleuze, Agamben). His research has been published in journals like Theory, Culture & Society, Philosophy & Social Criticism, Critical Sociology, and European Journal of Social Theory.