"Gig"economy e empreendendorismo: uma visão crítica do capitalismo de "plataformas"

Abstract

The objective of this work is to analyze the role of “platform” capitalism, especially the “gig” economy category, in the organization of work. We seek to know what role they bequeath to the worker and to what extent they influence the centrality of work for production. For this, we seek, at first, to understand the context in which digital work platforms emerge and consolidate, the operational characteristics of their different forms and their impacts on the work process. Emphasis is given to the so-called “gig” economy due to the scope and heterogeneity of this category. In a second moment, the notion of entrepreneurship is analyzed, its theoretical genesis and how it becomes the rhetoric of “app-companies” and many workers. It is shown how this discourse has deep roots in the deliberate construction of a new subjectivity of the worker, associated with what is called “neoliberal rationality”. Having the value theory as a theoretical framework, it is shown, from the double character of work, how society is structured by the production of value and the role of “digital work platforms” in this process. It is argued that working through “platforms” not only does not bring a change in the structure of labor relations, but also renews and ratify old forms of subordination in digital format. Furthermore, platforms are nothing more than means of production, which does not justify different treatment, in any sense, for companies that use them. Finally, it is argued that the increase in productivity as well as the development of technology and automation not only do not eliminate living work, which remain central, but can also contribute to deteriorating working conditions.