Journal
TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
Volume 65, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101594
Keywords
Algorithms; Digital ethics; Digital platforms; Digital technologies; Gig economy; Labour market; Labour rights
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The gig economy is rapidly expanding and reshaping the nature of work, bringing along significant ethical challenges. The EU initiative to address these challenges is a positive step, but further deliberation and policy response is needed to tackle issues such as algorithmic control and discrimination faced by gig workers.
The gig economy is a phenomenon that is rapidly expanding, redefining the nature of work and contributing to a significant change in how contemporary economies are organised. Its expansion is not unproblematic. This article provides a clear and systematic analysis of the main ethical challenges caused by the gig economy. Following a brief overview of the gig economy, its scope and scale, we map the key ethical problems that it gives rise to, as they are discussed in the relevant literature. We map them onto three categories: the new organisation of work (what is done), the new nature of work (how it is done), and the new status of workers (who does it). We then evaluate a recent initiative from the EU that seeks to address the challenges of the gig economy. The 2019 report of the European High-Level Expert Group on the Impact of the Digital Transformation on EU Labour Markets is a positive step in the right direction. However, we argue that ethical concerns relating to algorithmic systems as mechanisms of control, and the discrimination, exclusion and disconnectedness faced by gig workers require further deliberation and policy response. A brief conclusion completes the analysis. The appendix presents the methodology underpinning our literature review.
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