Work

Flexible work, rigid politics: Platformization, aspirations, and the making of the authoritariat in the Global South

Year: 2025

Type: editorial

Abstract: This article examines the intersection of flexible digital labor and rigid authoritarian politics in the Global South. Based on ethnographies in Brazil, India, and the Philippines, it introduces the concept of the authoritariat to describe segments of the working class drawn to reactionary populism through a combination of economic precarity and aspirational desire. Major digital labor platforms, as ideological technologies, enable a bifurcation that recenters the individual and fosters a perceived detachment from politics, thereby deepening the abyss between labor and political life. As platform work and digital entrepreneurship reshape notions of success, autonomy, and class identity, many workers come to embrace authoritarian leaders who promise order, moral certainty, and opportunity. The article argues that the emotional and economic logic of the digital economy play a key role in transforming political subjectivity. Far from passive victims or ideologically radicalized citizens, these individuals navigate a contradictory terrain of exclusion and self-worth.

Source: Dialogues on Digital Society

DOI: 10.1177/29768640251379552

Authors: Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, Miguel Paolo Rivera, Wagner Guilherme Alves da Silva, Rashmi Guha Ray, Marina Frid, Jessica Matheus de Souza

Institutions: University College Dublin, Ateneo de Manila University

Language: English

Topic: Digital Economy and Work Transformation

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,400