Algorithmic management: a study of perceptions of drivers and delivery people about work on platforms

• Grant number: 21/03544-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Alvaro Augusto Comin
• Grantee: André Scerb
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Centro de Inovação da USP (INOVA)
• Associated research grant: 19/07665-4 - Center for Artificial Intelligence, AP.eScience.CPE

Abstract

Inserted within the field of studies that examines the recent process of transformations on the world of work, which has been called uberization, platform economy, gig economy, among others, this research proposes the analysis of the perceptions and discourses produced by workers of digital platforms service providers about their own activity. While the literature has concentrated efforts to characterize this new modality of work in view of the recent changes that have occurred in this universe and the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on it, our objective is to examine the different aspects involved from the point of view of workers and the relationship established by them with these processes. Our starting point is the understanding that these new modalities of work organization change not only the daily activity of workers, but also their representations and meanings about work. In this way, we intend to investigate issues such as the perception of application workers about the speeches mobilized by companies; the forms of interaction with the algorithmic dimension of this work, in addition to the perspective of these workers in relation to the possibilities of organization and collective action. For this purpose, the research foresees the realization of a set of semi-structured in-depth interviews with workers from the Uber and iFood applications, in addition to online and offline ethnographies in order to contribute to the complexification of the debate around the changes occurred on the labour market, in which the service by applications occupies a prominent place.