Work and Labor in the Digital Age

Steven P. Vallas is Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University in Boston, USA. He has written widely on the tensions and contradictions that often accompany the transformation of work and paid employment under contemporary capitalism. He is the author of Power in the Workplace: The Politics of Production at AT&T and Work: A Critique. His work has been published in the leading journals within sociology. He recently co-edited Precarious Work: Causes, Characteristics and Consequences (with Arne Kalleberg). Anne Kovalainen is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland. Her research lies at the intersection of economic institutions, self-employment, and gender. She is interested in the social and societal aspects of economic life, gender as a theoretical concept, and knowledge formation, both in society and in sciences. She has held international fellowships at Stanford University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

• Introduction: Taking Stock of the Digital Revolution; Steven P. Vallas and Anne Kovalainen Chapter 1.Work and Value Creation in the Platform Economy; Martin Kenney and John ZysmanChapter 2.Technology-Driven Task Replacement and the Future of Employment; Jerry A. Jacobs and Rachel KarenChapter 3.Platforms at Work: Automated Hiring Platforms and Other New Intermediaries in the Organization of Work; Ifeoma Ajunwa and Daniel GreeneChapter 4.Black Holes and Purple Squirrels: A Tale of Two Online Labor Markets; Steve McDonald, Amanda K. Damarin, Jenelle Lawhorne, and Annika WilcoxChapter 5.Brave New Digital Work? New Forms of Performance Control in Crowdwork; Martin Krzywdzinkski and Christine Gerber Chapter 6.Labor Market Inclusion Through Predatory Capitalism? The 'Sharing Economy', Diversity, and the Crisis of Social Reproduction in the Belgian Coordinated Market economy; Patrizia ZanoniChapter 7.Work-Games in the Gig-Economy: A Case Study of Uber Drivers in the City of Monterrey, Mexico; Mariana Manriquez