The precarity of platform capitalism : how collective mobilisation changes as the sex work industry shifts to online marketplaces : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at Massey University, Manawatu Campus, New Zealand
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2024-08-31
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Massey University
Copyright is owned by the Author of this thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be used by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author.
Copyright is owned by the Author of this thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be used by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author.
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Abstract
This research sought to understand how the commercial sex work industry operates within platform capitalism and to analyse how platform capitalist models of labour impact the working, social, and political lives of online sex workers (adult content creators). This is an interpretive, qualitative study with data collected from a content analysis of online forums utilised by online sex workers globally and from semi-structured interviews with eight online sex workers based in New Zealand. Findings highlight the covert forms of structural violence inflicted on workers through algorithmic bias, exploitative platform practices demanding unpaid emotional, moral, and affective labour, punitive deplatforming measures, and economically precarious third-party payment platforms. Additionally, transnational laws imposed on workers and the monopolisation of the online sex work industry limit workers' ability to publicly mobilise against platforms due to fear of retaliation.
Given these forms of structural violence, it is critical to understand how workers are politically advocating for themselves within the platform economy, where they are classed as independent contractors without traditional employment protections. This research found that workers are restaging their collective mobilisation from public spaces to private spaces such as Discord and online forums. Workers have created private communities of care where they can support one another, offer advice, share resources, and come together in solidarity over their troubles. They also engage in what I term “imagined resistance”, a form of resistance that is planned but is yet to transpire. This thesis thus offers insights into broader understandings of prefigurative politics being undertaken within the platform economy of online sex work through covert forms of resistance.
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sociology, platform capitalism, platform economy, online sex work, collective mobilisation, prefigurative politics, structural violence