The Making of Algorithmic Labour in the Platform Economy

The rise of app-based labour platforms constitutes a paradigmatic shift in the contemporary modes of employment relationship. At the heart of this lies the algorithmic management of work—i.e. Algorithms having the ability to allocate, track, manage, and remunerate the platform workforce. These algorithmic systems are not simply technological artifacts but are also the product of sociocultural dynamics. My doctoral research situates itself at the confluence of these socio technological forces, that inform the logic of these algorithmic systems. Through an ethnographic study in a platform company building mobility app in Bengaluru’s tech milieu in India, this research aims to explore how software developers, tech capitalists, and the state co-construct the development of an application, with a consequential impact on the livelihoods of app-based workers in the platform economy.