平台资本主义的隐秘之处:在零工经济中攫取数据资产

Platform Capitalism's Hidden Abode:Producing Data Assets in the Gig Economy

在金融化的平台资本主义背景下,零工工作的管理表现出“双重价值生产”的特征:在提供服务之前、期间和之后所产生的数据的使用价值和投机价值,增加了服务产生的货币价值。因此,受应用程序管理的零工工人在软件系统中起着关键的渠道作用,这些软件系统将数字数据作为一种特定类别的资产来生产。文章反思了数据资产的获取及其价值化机会的不平等分配,并调查了一系列寻求以数据为中心的员工授权策略。研究发现,这些策略是反击平台资本主义统治的重要尝试,而平台资本主义的统治由“元平台”提供资金支持。最终,在日益受数据驱动的社会中,元平台的巨大财富和协同能力是影响零工工人权利和社会正义的最大因素。

In this article,we argue that the governance of gig work under conditions of financialised platform capitalism is characterised by a process that we call“dual value production”:the monetary value produced by the service provided is augmented by the use and speculative value of the data produced before,during,and after service provision.App-governed gig workers hence function as pivotal conduits in software systems that produce digital data as a particular asset class.We reflect on the production of data assets and the unequal distribution of opportunities for their valorisation,after which we survey a number of strategies seeking data-centric worker empowerment.These strategies,we argue,are crucial attempts to push back against platform capitalism's domination,bankrolled by what we term“meta-platforms”.Ultimately,it is the massive wealth and synergetic capacities of meta-platforms that constitute the most formidable obstacle to worker power and social justice in increasingly data-driven societies.