4min chapter

Rebuilders cover image

The platform society

Rebuilders

CHAPTER

The Rise of the Precariant Class

Gig economy is changing the nature of work. It's not a working class, but rather it's people whose jobs are characterized by a precarious nature. The Dordash delivery person who doesn't have healthcare or union representation has very little protection for them. And I think this is also contributing to increasing inequality. So you've got these very large entities that are translocationals. That means they're not subject in the same way to the local laws which are meant to keep these people accountable. But what it also does is it means that we become more socially disconnected.

00:00
Speaker 2
Okay, well with all of that sort of sketched out, what's the impact of that shift? Yeah, manifold.
Speaker 1
So let me just go through something. So number one, it's changing the nature of work. And increasingly we talk about a gig economy and other people are spoken about the precarri... I can never say the
Speaker 2
word. Precariousness.
Speaker 1
The precariant. So there's a book, the precariant, I forgot the author, it's an English book and basically talked about almost with his platform society, you're seeing the rise of a new class. It's not a working class, but rather it's people whose jobs are characterized by a precarious nature. The Dordash delivery person who doesn't have healthcare, union representation, they're working for a large corporation that's a digital platform in another country that's provide their own bike. If they get hit in there, there's very little protection for them. And so you're seeing this growing precariant... I can't say that word.
Speaker 2
Precarriat.
Speaker 1
I've read it. Precarriat.
Speaker 2
Precarriat class. Guy
Speaker 1
standing. Is that the
Speaker 2
guy's name? Yes, the last guy
Speaker 1
standing. Excellent name. Excellent name, guy standing. And so effectively you have that change in the nature of work. And I think this is also contributing to increasing inequality. So you've got people who are making tremendous amounts of money of this. So what you can see is in a society, you can see a society that's GDP is doing well and or seemingly doing well, there seems to be productivity growth, but it's happening in a very small concentrated people at the top. And Instagram is an example of this. Instagram actually had... I don't know now, but before it's sold to Facebook, it actually had a very tiny, tiny workforce and huge amount of money. I think Andrew Keene talked about that in one of his books. He talked about the fact that he compared, say, Kodak going at a business and I think it was in Rochester, New York State, where like 40,000 jobs or something that kept a whole town going, where he's got Instagram, which is even bigger. And it was like, is something crazy, like 15 people working for 13. Yeah, crazy. So less people are getting more money, but then more people working this very sort of like precarious kind of employment. So that's one. The second thing is what it does is it brings geopolitics into your backyard. So for example, the talks on TikTok ban, the fact that in Australia, we have very large American corporations, which are they looking at for our local interests? And even in America, you could argue, are they looking at for California's interest over other states? So you've got these very large entities that are translocationals. So that means they're not subject in the same way to the local laws, which are meant to keep these people accountable. And then it also means that if you're in a great power competition, say between China and America, what happens if TikTok just gets stopped and you're a local person who's perhaps got a business that's using TikTok that has huge implications? But I think what it also does is it means that we become more socially disconnected. You just think about, if you regularly go to your local, I don't know, Thai takeaway place. You get a local Thai restaurant, and every second Friday night you get your, I don't know, Musamankari. Love the Musamankari. And you talk to them, you get to know them, you meet people at your local coffee shop, you go to your local bookstore and order a book in, and you come back two weeks later and get it. Whilst perhaps there was not the ease of just having it delivered to you, all of these do fray at the social fabric. So if the second individual has a second individualism, perhaps frayed at the social fabric of, you know, you go to that, you don't get that voluntary group on a Thursday night and go to the local Rotary Club and meet people, or you don't turn up to church every week. You go to small group every five weeks, you phrase it, you know, your connections, then you take it even less where you're just bumping into people barely at all.

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