ILPC 2027

 There is much discussion today about digitisation and digital capitalism, illustrated by the fact that Ford’s “The Rise of the Robots” (2015) is a bestseller. One of the major technological driving forces behind digital capitalism are software algorithms, which we view as the sine qua non of digitisation. Their use is radically changing the economy and the workplace, in terms of both what is done and the way it is done. Algorithms are not only causing disruption to existing business models (taxis will be replaced by self-driving cars that rely on algorithms to keep their passengers safe; AirbnB uses algorithms to determine prices), they also have a profound effect on all areas of organisational life – the term Industry 4.0 refers to production processes that are monitored and controlled by cyber-physical systems, while media and social networking companies use algorithms to decide on the content that is presented to the consumer. 

The consequences of the introduction of algorithms are similar to those of any technological innovation that is brought into the workplace – activities in the labour process are transformed, often leading to deskilling and workforce reductions, resulting in lower costs, more efficiency and more competitiveness for the employer. It is no accident that at the same time employment relations are changing – fewer people today have a full-time permanent contract than 10 years ago and precarity is on the rise.

In our research we are investigating the impact of these developments on the labour processes in the digital information, social media and media industries in Berlin, a city which is the home to both start-ups and established companies involved in these fields, so there are very many writers, web designers, content managers and so on in Berlin, many of whom are self-employed and members of what has become a ‘gig’ economy – they are the digital precariat.

We are interested first of all in how algorithms have changed the nature of the work being done and the workplace. Then we are looking at the impact of these changes on various aspects of individuals’ lives (eg income and hours worked, how they construct their career) and identities (eg job satisfaction, feelings of (in)security, commitment). We are also paying attention to the role played here by employment relationships (full-time, contract).

The preliminary interviews we have carried out suggest that insecurity about income is a major concern to the digital precariat; some have said that a basic income will be necessary because more the greater the role algorithms play in labour processes, the fewer workers are needed, so we will also be investigating attitudes to this. Evidence has also emerged that some members of the digital precariat are trying to organise to obtain better conditions, so we will also be examining this development. Our orientation to capitalism is a critical one: the starting point for our understanding of digital capitalism is Marx’ “Fragment on Machines”. We are carrying out interviews, from which we will develop a survey. Data selection and theory building will be guided by grounded theory.