ABSTRACT
Research on the growth of the precarious economy is of signifi cant interest as the economy increasingly becomes dependent on gig work. However, as platform and automated service work has grown, there remains a chasm in understanding the key aspects of digital labour.
This handbook presents comprehensive theoretical, empirical, and historical accounts of the political economy of informal work from the late 20th century to the present.
It examines the rich and varied analysis and critique of the informalisation of work, focusing on its most signifi cant theories, intellectual traditions, and authors. It highlights the political, social, cultural, and developmental impact of the deterioration of employment in the Global North and Global South, as well as the extreme threat posed to the planet by the growth of contingent work, poverty, and enduring and increasing inequalities produced and reproduced by the reformation of capitalism in the contemporary age of neoliberal capitalism. The period from the 1980s to the present is marked by the expanded extraction of surplus value from workers through the creation of non-standard jobs and the restructuring of work. A central component of the restructuring of work is the extension of gig employment through the development of algorithmic platforms which direct labourers to perform discrete tasks.
This is a definitive collection, representing the primary reference work, contributing to our understanding of the subject.
The book is written and presented in a clear manner, accessible to scholars and researchers of international political economy, labour economics, and sociology who are eager for new research examining this phenomenon, as well as specialists in the field of labour relations.
Chapter 11 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. Funded by the University of Amsterdam.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|80 pages
Conceptual perspectives and approaches
chapter 3|13 pages
Inclusion through the platform economy?
part II|97 pages
Globalisation, women, and migration in the gig economy
chapter 8|15 pages
Beyond formality
chapter 11|22 pages
Liminal precarity and compromised agency
part III|67 pages
Worker protest and labour organising
chapter 14|15 pages
Vulnerable food delivery platforms under pressure
chapter 15|14 pages
New labour formations, precarious workers, and the gig economy
part IV|100 pages
Regional dynamics, Global North
chapter 18|15 pages
Transformations of work in the era of the gig economy
chapter 21|15 pages
Falling through the cracks
chapter 23|10 pages
Russia
part V|157 pages
Regional dynamics, Global South