Platform capitalism, digital technology and the future of work

The biggest innovation in the world of work in the last decade has been the rise of online platforms which connect workers and customers. Uber and Airbnb are the most well known, but there are dozens of others. Upwork connects businesses with independent professional, TaskRabbit, handy and jiffy are platforms for various home services, Amazon Mechanical Turk is on-line marketplace for small computer tasks called micro-tasks, and the list goes on.

You can find everything from graphic designers to people who will walk your dog or assemble your Ikea furniture. These platforms have been well received by customers, but for workers, they often have a dark side. And they present a major challenge for governments who are grappling with how to regulate them.

Contributor Jill Eisen looks at the digital revolution happening in our working lives. **This episode is part 2 of a 3-part series. Itoriginally aired September 20, 2017.Part 3 airs Tuesday, August 7.

Platforms like Uber, TaskRabbit and Upwork hold out the promise of freedom, flexibility, the chance to earn a little extra income and be your own boss. For some, that promise does get fulfilled, for but many others, it doesn't.

Somebelievewe arereturning to the ruthless and unregulated days of early capitalism in the 19th century.

• Listen to Part 1: Artificial intelligence, robots and the future of work
• Listen to Part 3:Less work and more leisure: Utopian visions and the future of work

Guests in the series:

• Martin Ford, Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and author ofRise Of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.
• Nick Srnicek, Lecturer at King's College in London, England. Author ofPlatform Capitalismand co-author ofInventing the Future.
• Robert McChesney, Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois, and co-author of People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.
• Ursula Huws, Professor of Labour and Globalization at the University of Hertfordshire in London, England and author ofLabour in the Global Digital Economy.
• Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization.
• Chris Roberts, Director of Social and Economic Policy at the Canadian Labour Congress.
• Sam Gindin, Former Research Director for the Canadian Auto Workers now Unifor and co-author ofThe Making of Global Capitalism.
• Guy Standing, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and author ofA Precariat Charter and Basic Income: And How We Can Make it Happen.
• Sunil Johal, Research Director at University of Toronto's MowatCentre and co-author of the reports,Working Without A Net and Policy Making for The Sharing Economy.
• Juliet Schor, Professor in the Sociology Department of Boston College and author ofThe Overworked American and True Wealth.
• Evelyn Forget, Health Economist at the University of Manitoba.

Further reading:

There's a huge number of books published on this topic since 2015. Here are some of them that JillEisenfound helpful.

• Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford, Basic Books, 2015.
• People Get Ready, Robert McChesney and John Nichols, Norton Books, 2016.
• Labour in the Global Digital Economy, Ursula Huws, Monthly Review Press, 2014.
• A Precariat Charter, Guy Standing, Bloomsbury, 2014.
• Basic Income: A Guide For The Open-Minded, Yale University Press, 2017.
• True Wealth, Juliet Schor, Penguin Books, 2011.
• The Overworked American, Juliet Schor, Basic Books, 1993.
• Inventing The Future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, 2015.
• Platform Capitalism, Nick Srnicek, Verso, 2016.
• The Making of Global Capitalism, Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, Verso, 2013.
• Utopia For Realists, Rutger Bregman, Little Brown, 2014.
• The Second Machine Age, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, W.W. Norton &Company, 2016.
• Machine Platform Crowd, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
• The End of Work, Jeremy Rifkin, Tarcher, 1996.
• The Future We Want, Sarah Leonard & Bhaskar Sunkara, Metropolitan Books, 2016.
• Cyber-Proletariat, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Between The Lines, 2015.
• The Wealth of Humans, Ryan Avent, St. Martin's Press, 2016.
• What's Yours is Mine, Tom Slee, Between The Lines, 2016.
• Peers Inc, Robin Chase, Public Affairs, 2015.
• Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes, 1930.
• Policy Making for The Sharing Economy,Sunil Johal and Noah Zon, Mowat Centre, U of T, 2015.

Related websites:

• This is the opening session of theInternational Labour Organization's Conference: The Future of Work We Want. Lord Robert Skidelsky's talk starting about 14 minutes in is excellent.
• A talk by Robert McChesney, co-author ofPeople Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy,Part 1.
• Atalk by John Nichols, co-author ofPeople Get Ready: The Fight Against A Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy,Part 2.

**This episode was produced by JillEisenand Greg Kelly.