Social Harm in Australia’s Gig Economy
Digital Platforms, Algorithmic Control, and Worker Vulnerability
Buch in deiner Nähe kaufen
Beschreibung
This book offers a criminological analysis of algorithmic control in Australia’s gig economy, revealing how digital labour platforms such as Uber, Didi, Airtasker, and others use opaque algorithms to pursue profitability through digital mechanisms that generate significant social harms. Drawing on zemiology—the study of social harm—alongside ultra-realism and technology harm theory, it exposes the systemic exploitation and precarious conditions faced by gig workers in Australia.
Grounded in original empirical research—including netnography, surveys, and interviews—the book documents the financial, physical, psychological, legal harms and other harms caused by algorithmic labour allocation, account deactivation, and the denial of basic labour protections. It interrogates the limits of existing legal frameworks, focusing on Australia’s Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 (Cth) that introduces the new category of “employee-like” workers and the remedy of “unfair deactivation”, showing that these reforms remain insufficient to address the complex harms and power inequalities produced by platform work. Consequently, workers must continue to devise their own strategies for navigating, mitigating and resisting these harms.
By integrating theoretical insight with legal critique and detailed case studies, this book demonstrates the criminogenic potential of emerging digital technologies and calls for harm-informed regulatory approaches that move beyond narrow employment laws. It is essential reading for criminologists, legal scholars, policymakers, and all those concerned with labour justice in the digital era.
This book offers a criminological analysis of algorithmic control in Australia’s gig economy, revealing how digital labour platforms such as Uber, Didi, Airtasker, and others use opaque algorithms to pursue profitability through digital mechanisms that generate significant social harms. Drawing on zemiology—the study of social harm—alongside ultra-realism and technology harm theory, it exposes the systemic exploitation and precarious conditions faced by gig workers in Australia.
Grounded in original empirical research—including netnography, surveys, and interviews—the book documents the financial, physical, psychological, legal harms and other harms caused by algorithmic labour allocation, account deactivation, and the denial of basic labour protections. It interrogates the limits of existing legal frameworks, focusing on Australia’s Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 (Cth) that introduces the new category of “employee-like” workers and the remedy of “unfair deactivation”, showing that these reforms remain insufficient to address the complex harms and power inequalities produced by platform work. Consequently, workers must continue to devise their own strategies for navigating, mitigating and resisting these harms.
By integrating theoretical insight with legal critique and detailed case studies, this book demonstrates the criminogenic potential of emerging digital technologies and calls for harm-informed regulatory approaches that move beyond narrow employment laws. It is essential reading for criminologists, legal scholars, policymakers, and all those concerned with labour justice in the digital era.
Reveals hidden social harms behind gig economy algorithms through a critical criminology lens Explores how evolving laws reshape control and risk in digital labour markets Connects Australia’s gig work reforms to broader global struggles over digital labour justice
Autor*in
Elvio Anthony Sinopoli
Themen in »Social Harm in Australia’s Gig Economy«
Gig Economy Harms Digital Labour Regulation Algorithmic Control Workplace Rights Platform Work Social Harm