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Uberization of labor and capitalist accumulation

Abstract

The development of the productive forces appropriated by capital, combined with the context of changes on sociocultural relations that encompasses the spheres of production and consumption, has enabled the rise of the phenomenon of uberization of labor, a term derived from the way the company Uber is organized. This phenomenon is usually associated with the business of so-called sharing economy, and it opens the debate to the specificities of the structuring categories of capitalist accumulation that encompass online labor relations. This article lays the theoretical basis to advocate for the following argument: the uberization of labor represents a particular capitalist accumulation, by producing a new form of mediation of the subsumption of the worker, which takes on the responsibility for the main means of production in the productive activity. Based on the Marxian theoretical contribution, a critical analysis about the phenomenon of uberization is presented, which is intrinsically related to the innovative forms of management, while it also acts to intensify the work precariousness.

Keywords:
Uberization; Capitalist Accumulation; Labor Relations; Precariousness

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