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Riders on the Storm: Workplace Solidarity among Gig Economy Couriers in Italy and the UK
Open accessAbstract
In light of the individualisation, dispersal and pervasive monitoring that characterise work in the ‘gig economy’, the development of solidarity among gig workers could be expected to be unlikely. However, numerous recent episodes of gig workers’ mobilisation require reconsideration of these assumptions. This article contributes to the debate about potentials and obstacles for solidarity in the changing world of work by showing the processes through which workplace solidarity among gig workers developed in two cases of mobilisation of food delivery platform couriers in the UK and Italy. Through the framework of labour process theory, the article identifies the sources of antagonism in the app-mediated model of work organisation and the factors that facilitated and hindered the consolidation of active solidarity and the emergence of collective action among gig workers. The article emphasises the centrality of workers’ agential practices in overcoming constraints to solidarity and collective action, and the diversity of forms through which solidarity can be expressed in hostile work contexts.
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“Across broader platform economies, solidarities emerge precisely in response to algorithmic management and individualized competition [124, 147].”
From 'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment (2026) · cites this paper as [124]
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Langer, M., & Landers, R. N. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2021.106878 · Cited by 338
The ethical debate about the gig economy: A review and critical analysis
Tan, Z. M., Aggarwal, N., Cowls, J., Morley, J., Taddeo, M., & Floridi, L. (2021) · Technology in Society · doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101594 · Cited by 225
Gamification and gigification: A multidimensional theoretical approach
Behl, A., Jayawardena, N., Ishizaka, A., Gupta, M., & Shankar, A. (2022) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.023 · Cited by 104
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'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment
Kapania, S., Yang, T., Abdelkadir, N. A., Scheuerman, M. K., Miceli, M., Taylor, A. S., & Fox, S. E. (2026) · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791097 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Tassinari, A., & Maccarrone, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Warwick (GB)
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Tassinari, Arianna
- Venue
- Work, Employment and Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-07-26
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 35-54
- ISSN
- 0950-0170 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8722
- OpenAlex
- W2966058192
- Cited by
- 746
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 102 · 2025: 137 · 2024: 118 · 2023: 142 · 2022: 137 · 2021: 79 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 124.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Work Employment and Society (publishedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della ricerca (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- University of Warwick (ES/J500203/1)
- King's College London
- Irish Research Council
- Université de Lyon
- Economic and Social Research Council (J500203/1, ES/J500203/1, J500203)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Economy and Work Transformation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Legal and Labor Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Industrial relations › Labor Movements and Unions
- Keywords
- gig economy, workplace solidarity, collective action, labour process theory, workers' mobilization, worker agency, precarious employment, Italy, United Kingdom
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