ABSTRACT
The platformisation of labour addresses challenges to mediatisation research. This chapter theorises about the platformisation of labour – as an element of mediatisation – based on relations between financialisation, datafication and neoliberalism. Thus, it discusses: (a) algorithms, data and platforms; (b) platform labour and its typologies and characteristics; (c) the algorithmic management as a central element of the platformisation of labour; (d) alternatives to the current scenario. It argues that platformisation can be considered a current stage of mediatisation, or at least an alternative perspective with which to understand deep mediatisation. Platformisation affects labour in different layers, such as mechanisms of rentier capitalism, datafication of labour, algorithmic management, and the use of social media and other digital infrastructures by workers to organise and build alternatives. In all these processes a crucial role is played by media and communication.
