Social relations and worker resistance in the platform economy: towards a future research agenda

This paper examines how the social relations of platform work shape workers’ acts of resistance. We critically discuss the broad spectrum of resistance approaches employed by platform workers, bringing attention to how the heterogeneity and novelty of some practices stem from the dynamic and complex social relations of platform work. Accounting for resistance practices at both individual and collective levels, as well as across different types of platform work, enables one to consider the extent to which worker resistance has evolved from its more traditional association with the presence of a ‘shopfloor’ and established organisational structures and processes for social relations with supervisors and co-workers. We elucidate how worker resistance has emerged despite the considerable efforts by platform firms to marginalise the potential for resistance through their business models and conclude with an agenda to guide future research efforts.