Devaluation of cultural capital on online platforms and the changing shape of the social space

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Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Volume 14, Issue 1

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Devaluation of cultural capital on online platforms and the changing shape of the social space

research-article

Author(s): Thomas Höhne , Martina Sproll

Publication date (Print): 1 January 2020

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: crowdwork, devaluation, cultural capital, symbolic capital, labour control, reputation economy, social space, intersectional inequalities, gender

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Abstract

This article analyses the devaluation of work and qualifications on crowdworking platforms. It argues that - in the context of a digital reputation economy - cultural capital (formal and incorporated standards of skills and knowledge) is increasingly being devalued, informalised and replaced by symbolic capital. We argue that these changes impact on social relations and the social space. The devaluation and precariousness of crowdwork does not only reflect a crisis of social reproduction and increasing socio-economic inequalities, but also changes traditional channels of upward mobility and thus the structuring of the social space. Furthermore, increasing individual competition implies gendered and discriminatory dynamics.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50010512

Journal ID (jcode): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 1745-641X

ISSN: 1745-6428

Publication date (Print): 1 January 2020

Volume: 14

Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.issue-1 )

Pages: 32-46

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.14.1.0032

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.14.1.0032

SO-VID: 7551fea3-7bf7-49ba-92cb-83185787d53a

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Custom metadata

lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

Keywords: gender,symbolic capital,labour control,intersectional inequalities,devaluation,social space,crowdwork,cultural capital,reputation economy

REFERENCES

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Berg, J., M. Furrer, E. Harmon, U. Rani & M.S. Silberman (2018) Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World. Geneva: International Labour Office.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1998) Practical Reason. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishers.
Bourdieu, P. (2004) ‘The forms of capital’ in S. Ball (ed.) The Routledge Falmer Reader: Sociology of Education. London: Routledge:15-29.
Bourdieu, P. & J.C. Passeron (1970) La reproduction. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.
Bröckling, U. (2015) The Entrepreneurial Self. Fabricating a New Type of Subject. NJ: Sage.
Drahokoupil, J. & B. Fabo (2016) ‘The platform economy and the disruption of the employment relationship’, ETUI Policy Brief, 5.
Durward, D., I. Blohm & J.M. Leimeister (2016) ‘Crowd Work’, Business & Information Systems Engineering, 58 (4):281-6.
Edwards, R. (1979) Contested Terrain. New York: Basic Books.
Ehrlich, M., T. Engel, M. Füchtenkötter & W. Ibrahim (2017) ‘Digitale Prekarisierung. Neue Verwundbarkeiten und Abwertungsprozesse in der Industriearbeit’, PROKLA, 47 (2):193-211.
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Funder, M. & M. Sproll (2012) Symbolische Gewalt und Leistungsregime. Geschlechterungleichheit in der betrieblichen Arbeitspolitik. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Gandini, A. (2016) The Reputation Economy: Understanding Knowledge Work in Digital Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gerber, C. (2019) ‘Alte Herrschaft in digitalen Gewändern? Der Arbeitsprozess auf Crowdworking Plattformen’ in F. Butollo & S. Nuss (eds) Marx und die Roboter: Vernetzte Produktion, Künstliche Intelligenz und lebendige Arbeit, Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag:256-75.
Gerber, C. & M. Krzywdzinski (2019) ‘Brave new digital work? New forms of performance control in crowdwork’ in S.P. Vallas & A. Kovaleinen (eds) Work and Labour in the Digital Age, Bingley: Emerald Publishing:121-44.
Hearn, A. (2010) ‘Structuring feeling: Web 2.0, online ranking and rating, and the digital “reputation” economy’, Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 10 (3/4):421-38.
Huws, U. (2015) ‘Setting the standards: the USA and capitalism in the digital age’ in O. Frayssé & M. O'Neil (eds) Digital Labour and Prosumer Capitalism: The US Matrix, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan:20-9.
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Kuek, S.C., C.M. Paradi-Guilford, T. Fayomi, S. Imaizumi & P. Ipeirotis (2015) The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Lehdonvirta, V. (2016) ‘Algorithms that divide and unite: Delocalisation, identity and collective action in “microwork”‘ in J. Flecker (ed.) Space, Place and Global Digital Work, London: Palgrave Macmillan:53-80.
Leimeister, J.M., S. Zogaj & D. Durward (2016a) ‘Crowd Worker in Deutschland. Eine empirische Studie zum Arbeitsumfeld auf externen Crowdsourcing-Plattformen’, Study der HansBöcklerStiftung, 323. Accessed January 9, 2020 from https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_study_hbs_323.pdf.
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Pfeiffer, S. (2019) ‘Produktivkraft konkret. Vom schweren Start der Leichtbauroboter’ in F. Butollo & S. Nuss (eds) Marx und die Roboter: Vernetzte Produktion, Künstliche Intelligenz und lebendige Arbeit, Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag:156-77.
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Valenduc, G. & P. Vendramin (2016) ‘Work in the digital economy: Sorting the old from the new’, ETUI Working Paper, 3, Brussels: ETUI.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Altenried, M. (2017) ‘Die Plattform als Fabrik. Crowdwork, Digitaler Taylorismus und die Vervielfältigung der Arbeit’, PROKLA, 47 (2):175-91.

[2] Berg, J., M. Furrer, E. Harmon, U. Rani & M.S. Silberman (2018) Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World. Geneva: International Labour Office.

[3] Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[4] Bourdieu, P. (1998) Practical Reason. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishers.

[5] Bourdieu, P. (2004) ‘The forms of capital’ in S. Ball (ed.) The Routledge Falmer Reader: Sociology of Education. London: Routledge:15-29.

[6] Bourdieu, P. & J.C. Passeron (1970) La reproduction. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.

[7] Bröckling, U. (2015) The Entrepreneurial Self. Fabricating a New Type of Subject. NJ: Sage.

[8] Drahokoupil, J. & B. Fabo (2016) ‘The platform economy and the disruption of the employment relationship’, ETUI Policy Brief, 5.

[9] Durward, D., I. Blohm & J.M. Leimeister (2016) ‘Crowd Work’, Business & Information Systems Engineering, 58 (4):281-6.

[10] Edwards, R. (1979) Contested Terrain. New York: Basic Books.

[11] Ehrlich, M., T. Engel, M. Füchtenkötter & W. Ibrahim (2017) ‘Digitale Prekarisierung. Neue Verwundbarkeiten und Abwertungsprozesse in der Industriearbeit’, PROKLA, 47 (2):193-211.

[12] Flecker, J. (2016) ‘Introduction’ in J. Flecker (ed.) Space, Place and Global Digital Work, London: Palgrave Macmillan:1-8.

[13] Funder, M. & M. Sproll (2012) Symbolische Gewalt und Leistungsregime. Geschlechterungleichheit in der betrieblichen Arbeitspolitik. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.

[14] Gandini, A. (2016) The Reputation Economy: Understanding Knowledge Work in Digital Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

[15] Gerber, C. (2019) ‘Alte Herrschaft in digitalen Gewändern? Der Arbeitsprozess auf Crowdworking Plattformen’ in F. Butollo & S. Nuss (eds) Marx und die Roboter: Vernetzte Produktion, Künstliche Intelligenz und lebendige Arbeit, Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag:256-75.

[16] Gerber, C. & M. Krzywdzinski (2019) ‘Brave new digital work? New forms of performance control in crowdwork’ in S.P. Vallas & A. Kovaleinen (eds) Work and Labour in the Digital Age, Bingley: Emerald Publishing:121-44.

[17] Hearn, A. (2010) ‘Structuring feeling: Web 2.0, online ranking and rating, and the digital “reputation” economy’, Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 10 (3/4):421-38.

[18] Huws, U. (2015) ‘Setting the standards: the USA and capitalism in the digital age’ in O. Frayssé & M. O'Neil (eds) Digital Labour and Prosumer Capitalism: The US Matrix, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan:20-9.

[19] Huws, U., N.H. Spencer & S. Joyce (2016) Crowd Work in Europe: Preliminary Results from a Survey in the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, Brussels: Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS). Accessed January 8, 2020 from https://www.feps-europe.eu/Assets/Publications/PostFiles/463_1.pdf.

[20] Huws, U., N.H. Spencer, M. Coates & K. Holts (2019) The Platformisation of Work in Europe: Results from Research in 13 European Countries, Brussels: Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS).

[21] Kuek, S.C., C.M. Paradi-Guilford, T. Fayomi, S. Imaizumi & P. Ipeirotis (2015) The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing. Washington, DC: World Bank.

[22] Lehdonvirta, V. (2016) ‘Algorithms that divide and unite: Delocalisation, identity and collective action in “microwork”‘ in J. Flecker (ed.) Space, Place and Global Digital Work, London: Palgrave Macmillan:53-80.

[23] Leimeister, J.M., S. Zogaj & D. Durward (2016a) ‘Crowd Worker in Deutschland. Eine empirische Studie zum Arbeitsumfeld auf externen Crowdsourcing-Plattformen’, Study der HansBöcklerStiftung, 323. Accessed January 9, 2020 from https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_study_hbs_323.pdf.

[24] Leimeister, J.M, S. Zogaj, D. Shkodran, D. Durward & I. Blohm (2016b) ‘Systematisierung und Analyse von CrowdSourcingAnbietern und CrowdWorkProjekten’, Study der HansBöcklerStiftung, 324. Accessed November 8, 2019 from https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_study_hbs_324.pdf.

[25] Lücking, S. (2019) Arbeiten in der Plattformökonomie: Über digitale Tagelöhner, algorithmisches Management und die Folgen für die Arbeitswelt. Forschungsförderungsreport, 5. Düsseldorf: Hans-Böckler-Stiftung.

[26] Marx, K. (1887 [1967]) Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1. New York: International Publishers.

[27] Pfeiffer, S. (2004) Arbeitsvermögen. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.

[28] Pfeiffer, S. (2019) ‘Produktivkraft konkret. Vom schweren Start der Leichtbauroboter’ in F. Butollo & S. Nuss (eds) Marx und die Roboter: Vernetzte Produktion, Künstliche Intelligenz und lebendige Arbeit, Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag:156-77.

[29] Pongratz, H. (2018) ‘Of crowds and talents: Discursive constructions of global online labour’, New Technology, Work and Employment, 33 (1):58-73.

[30] Schildmann, C. (2018) Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in der digitalen Arbeitswelt: Fünf entscheidende Felder. böll.brief Teilhabegesellschaft, 6. Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

[31] Serfling, O. (2018) ‘Crowdworking Monitor Nr. 1‘, Kleve. Accessed January 6, 2020 from www.bmas.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/PDFMeldungen/2018/crowdworkingmonitor.html.

[32] Valenduc, G. & P. Vendramin (2016) ‘Work in the digital economy: Sorting the old from the new’, ETUI Working Paper, 3, Brussels: ETUI.