Uberization: The Periphery as the Future of Work?

Abstract

This article addresses the ‘uberization’ of work, its definition and how it can be understood as a new type of control, management and organisation of work. This trend is presented as being global, currently crossing the world of work as a whole, although with some particularities according to the social contexts where it develops. In general terms, uberisation includes three core elements that will be presented below and are interrelated: processes of informalization of elements that govern labour processes; the transformation of workers into just-in-time workers; and the centralization of labour control through oligopolies. This article argues mainly that uberization refers to a broad process, which involves other processes and labour relations that go beyond digital platforms. Therefore, we argue that digital platforms give visibility to processes that have been articulated globally for decades in the world of work. Therefore, platforms not only promote uberiszation, but also have a central role in materializing—and making more recognisable—the current processes of transformation of the forms of subordination and control of work, but uberization is not restricted to them, nor does it start with them.