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Be your own boss!

Winkel Thorhauge Larsen, Ronja LU and Nørgaard Andersen, Bjørk LU (2021) GNVK22 20211
Department of Gender Studies
Abstract
This study seeks to explore how platform labor is rendered invisible and to emphasize the making of class in relation to precarious platform labor in a neoliberal context. Engaging the theoretical frameworks posed by Silvia Federici, Niels van Doorn and Beverley Skeggs, we perform a thematic analysis of three conducted interviews with Wolt couriers, as well as on a debate written by the director of Wolt Denmark, Søren Meier Svendsen, and the Wolt recruiting website likeaboss.nu. Our analysis is centered on the theme’s flexibility, liberation and value. Using a standpoint theoretical approach, we highlight our interviewees experiences as platform workers, to form a critique from their standpoint. We problematize how Wolt as a company draws... (More)
This study seeks to explore how platform labor is rendered invisible and to emphasize the making of class in relation to precarious platform labor in a neoliberal context. Engaging the theoretical frameworks posed by Silvia Federici, Niels van Doorn and Beverley Skeggs, we perform a thematic analysis of three conducted interviews with Wolt couriers, as well as on a debate written by the director of Wolt Denmark, Søren Meier Svendsen, and the Wolt recruiting website likeaboss.nu. Our analysis is centered on the theme’s flexibility, liberation and value. Using a standpoint theoretical approach, we highlight our interviewees experiences as platform workers, to form a critique from their standpoint. We problematize how Wolt as a company draws on different neoliberal narratives on work and the individual worker. These narratives emphasize flexibility as a liberating force and constitute Wolt couriers as their own bosses due to their self-employment. Furthermore, they seek to disconnect from the low status of service work in the on-demand economy, by concealing the precarious structures of the work and constituting the Wolt courier as a powerful subject. We examine how the narratives that Wolt creates differ from our interviewee’s experiences, and ultimately render both the work and class invisible. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Winkel Thorhauge Larsen, Ronja LU and Nørgaard Andersen, Bjørk LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Usynligt platformsarbejde i neoliberale tider
course
GNVK22 20211
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
platformsarbejde, neoliberalisme, klasse, værdi, fleksibilitet, platform labor, neoliberalism, class, value, flexibility
language
Danish
id
9066552
date added to LUP
2021-10-07 08:57:52
date last changed
2021-10-07 08:57:52
@misc{9066552,
  abstract     = {{This study seeks to explore how platform labor is rendered invisible and to emphasize the making of class in relation to precarious platform labor in a neoliberal context. Engaging the theoretical frameworks posed by Silvia Federici, Niels van Doorn and Beverley Skeggs, we perform a thematic analysis of three conducted interviews with Wolt couriers, as well as on a debate written by the director of Wolt Denmark, Søren Meier Svendsen, and the Wolt recruiting website likeaboss.nu. Our analysis is centered on the theme’s flexibility, liberation and value. Using a standpoint theoretical approach, we highlight our interviewees experiences as platform workers, to form a critique from their standpoint. We problematize how Wolt as a company draws on different neoliberal narratives on work and the individual worker. These narratives emphasize flexibility as a liberating force and constitute Wolt couriers as their own bosses due to their self-employment. Furthermore, they seek to disconnect from the low status of service work in the on-demand economy, by concealing the precarious structures of the work and constituting the Wolt courier as a powerful subject. We examine how the narratives that Wolt creates differ from our interviewee’s experiences, and ultimately render both the work and class invisible.}},
  author       = {{Winkel Thorhauge Larsen, Ronja and Nørgaard Andersen, Bjørk}},
  language     = {{dan}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Be your own boss!}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}