Uberization and Overexploitation Racial Platform Capitalism in Paris, London and Montréal

This book examines “uberization” “from below”, by focusing on three major cities (Paris, London and Montreal) and on the individual situations of Uber drivers, to analyse the deployment of “racial platform capitalism”. Racialized men are over-represented among Uber drivers and the book argues that this is no coincidence; the platform exploits their relegation to a subordinate material and symbolic position within the social order to gain access to the labour reserve it needs to operate. At the same time, this essential but unwanted labour force must accept the degraded working and employment conditions offered. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of the sociology of work and the platform economy.

1. Introduction.- Part 1. Uber’s conquest of the market.- Chapter 2. Gaining access to a driver pool.- Chapter 3.  Building a quasi-monopolistic position.- Part 2. Uber driver: a job for immigrants.- Chapter 4: A job to mitigate demotion.- Chapter 5. A good bad job to improve one’s situation.- Part 3. Supervised autonomy at work.- Chapter 6.  Your money or your life: Management of working hours.- Chapter 7. Ratings and complaints. Customer-controlled work.- Chapter 8. Conclusion.

Sophie Bernard is a tenured Professor of sociology at Université Paris Dauphine-PSL, France, specialising in the sociology of work and employment.   She has been working on digital platforms for several years. She has published several books, which have received research awards and critical acclaim, as well as articles in peer-reviewed journals. She is also an honorary member of the Institut Universitaire de France.