Communication Inequality and the Technopolitical Structure of Platform Work: Aotearoa New Zealand Platform Workers During COVID-19

Simple item page
dc.citation.volume18
dc.contributor.authorSalter LA
dc.contributor.authorDutta MJ
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-10T20:49:36Z
dc.date.available2024-06-10T20:49:36Z
dc.date.issued2024-01-30
dc.description.abstractDrawing on the culture-centered approach (CCA), we conducted 25 in-depth interviews with Aotearoa New Zealand rideshare and delivery drivers, demonstrating how the technopolitical structure of platform work intensified communication inequality, and resultingly, precarity, during the COVID-19 crisis. Although literature has recognized that the platform has become the place of employment, less researched is how this makes it the place of information distribution, handing power to the platform operators, while contributing to the precarity of platform workers. The concept of communication inequality has been underapplied to considering the intersections between the structure of platform work and worker precarity. A thematic analysis concentrates on 4 key themes linked to the centralization of information flows through the platform architecture: information restriction, indirect management, unilateral term-setting, and accentuated precarity. We conclude by arguing for more research on platform work from a communication perspective that foregrounds the voices of workers.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.format.pagination1289-1308
dc.identifier.citationSalter LA, Dutta MJ. (2024). Communication Inequality and the Technopolitical Structure of Platform Work: Aotearoa New Zealand Platform Workers During COVID-19. International Journal of Communication. 18. (pp. 1289-1308).
dc.identifier.eissn1932-8036
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.issn1932-8036
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/69763
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherUniversity of Southern California
dc.publisher.urihttps://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21832
dc.relation.isPartOfInternational Journal of Communication
dc.rights(c) 2024 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectplatform work
dc.subjectgig economy
dc.subjectprecarity
dc.subjectUber
dc.subjectcommunication inequality
dc.subjectvoice
dc.subjectCOVID-19
dc.subjectCulture-Centered Approach (CCA)
dc.titleCommunication Inequality and the Technopolitical Structure of Platform Work: Aotearoa New Zealand Platform Workers During COVID-19
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id487286
pubs.organisational-groupOther
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Published version.pdf
Size:
242.03 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
487286 PDF.pdf
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
9.22 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles