Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Multi-Method Comparative Study of Uber Drivers

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

General Audience Summary This award is a doctoral dissertation improvement grant. It supports a project investigating the work experience of Uber drivers and the legal disputes about them and their work. The investigators conducted an extensive ethnographic field study of Uber drivers this year in Boston, and they discovered that Uber's algorithms yield great power over how workers work largely, by revealing certain pieces of information but concealing others. In the project supported by this grant, the investigators will extend their sampling method, interview protocol, and analytic coding to Copenhagen, Denmark, for comparative purposes. They aim to understand Uber's emergent "digital working class" in another political economy (a social democracy), with different norms concerning urban transportation (a strong cultural preference for bicycling), and under a different legal system and legal consciousness. The research will generate insights for academic and policy audiences interested in regulating this workforce and its activity. The results will be reported in several articles written for both specialist and non-specialist audiences, and contribute to a doctoral dissertation to be later published as a book. Technical Summary The investigators will work towards bridging a gap in understanding about new kinds of work that are emerging consequent to technology by comparing qualitative data about the experience of Uber workers in two national contexts, the US (Boston) and Denmark (Copenhagen). They plan to acquire and analyze ethnographic data alongside historical and contemporary legal disputes about labor in general and ride-for-hire in particular. As sociologists and STS scholars, the investigators are interested in the relationship between individuals and organizations, including regulatory ones, in the information economy. While ensuing legal case have focused on questions such as whether to classify "on-demand" workers as employees or contractors and whether the service provided is safe, the investigators will focus on underlying debates having to do with class and power, equity and fairness, and design and use in the emergence of new technology.