Freedom in and out of work: platforms, precarity, and the democratization of work

Abstract

This project explores and defends a seemingly simple proposition: if democracy is to be radical, the democratization of work should be a priority. Two contrasting observations motivate this exploration. The first is that a logic of work has extended into more and more areas of life while the place of formal employment has become increasingly precarious. Low pay, long hours and insecure working arrangements are now hallmarks of otherwise wealthy societies. The second is that despite this development, and despite resurging interest in some quarters of democratic theory, work is relatively neglected as a concern within much contemporary democratic theory. As such, this project explores 1) the conceptual resources contemporary democratic theory offers for a normative understanding of relationships of power connected to contemporary forms of work, and 2) its potential for envisioning a more emancipated organization of work. The methodological approach is one of ‘grounded normative theory’, with a commitment to tie in political theorizing with existing social critiques. As such, throughout the thesis I draw on original qualitative research carried out in the form of in-depth interviews with members of the grassroots union the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) who work as on-demand couriers in the platform economy.

This thesis advances three specific contributions. The first is a methodological critique that ties in with the approach just outlined. Namely, that the most common approaches to democratic theorizing (agonist and deliberative) suffer from a ‘socially weightless’ style of thought that, in different ways, has informed a neglect to think about work and the economy as important sites to be democratized. Secondly, and more positively, this thesis contributes to contemporary democratic theory by bringing the latter’s insights on freedom, equality, and agency in conversation with issues such as trade union organizing and resistance, conceptions of workplace democracy, post-work proposals for freedom from work, and models of a democratic economy. Lastly, a central argument that the thesis advances is that to democratize work implies democratizing the economy. For work to be democratic, it needs to be decommodified, serve deliberatively constituted social interests, while retaining worker autonomy at the level of the workplace.