Rediscovering the cash nexus, again: Subsumption and the labour–capital relation in platform work

This article proposes a re-theorisation of the main social relations of platform work, based on two concepts drawn from Marx: subsumption of labour and the cash nexus. Platform work research to date is heavily empirical in character, with little theoretical development. As a result, the social relations of platform work are treated descriptively, using ad hoc or common-sense categories, or platforms’ own terminology. This under-theorisation leads to over-estimation of platform work’s novelty, decentring of capital in accounts of its development, incipient technological determinism and problematic generalisation from emergent trends. In place of the commonly assumed ‘triangle’ of platform work relations, this article argues that platform work is best understood in terms of an emerging labour–capital relation, which establishes a cash nexus between platform and worker as a result of a process of subsumption. This re-theorisation, in turn, helps to understand the rapid emergence of platform worker organisation and resistance, and the similarity of its demands with worker resistance in other, more established areas of paid work under capitalist relations of production.

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Commutes and Co-Workers: Complicating Individual Journeys through Workplace Relations

Built Environment ◽

10.2148/benv.45.4.603 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 603-620

Author(s):

Anna Plyushteva

Keyword(s):

Social Relations ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Paid Work ◽

Workplace Interactions ◽

Workplace Relations ◽

The Social ◽

The Everyday ◽

Hospitality Sector ◽

Tourism And Hospitality

The everyday mobilities involved in performing paid work have increasingly been conceptualized in relation to their social context, with transport researchers seeking to move away from a view of the commuter as a solitary figure driven by a utility-maximization rationale. To date, most research which emphasizes the social embeddedness of commutes has focused on the ways in which gender, class and race shape commuting experiences, and the role of household relations in the organization of the commute. In this paper, I contribute to this body of work by exploring the links between the commute and the social relations of the workplace. The paper draws on qualitative data collected among commuters in Sofia, Bulgaria, and includes both office workers and people employed in shift work in the tourism and hospitality sector. The findings discuss the multiple ways in which formal and informal workplace interactions become part of everyday journeys, whether through commuters arranging to travel together, through strategies for avoiding co-workers on the way to work, or through managerial measures aiming to shape commutes. Commuting experiences, in turn, are not external to the workplace but are woven through it in a range of ways, as co-workers discuss commuter stress, or set time aside to plan easier, safer or more affordable travel to work.

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An Ethical Framework for the Use of Horses in Competitive Sport: Theory and Function

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11061725 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1725 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Madeleine L. H. Campbell

Keyword(s):

Ad Hoc ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Theoretical Development ◽

Ethical Framework ◽

Ethical Frameworks ◽

Social License ◽

The Social ◽

Sports Ethics ◽

Equestrian Sport ◽

And Function

Growing ethical concern about equestrian sport is reflected in publications by regulatory authorities, animal charities, and the lay press; and in government debate and social media. However, attempts by regulators and stakeholders to address ethical issues in equine sport have been discipline specific and ad hoc. Ethical frameworks can help stakeholders to make contextual decisions about what should or should not be done in a particular situation. However, when existing animal welfare frameworks and existing sports ethics frameworks are reviewed in this paper, it becomes clear that none provide us with a suitable or sufficient tool for considering ethical issues which can arise in situations where the athlete is a non-human, non-consenting participant. This paper presents the theoretical development of a novel ethical framework, with the aim of providing stakeholders with a tool which they might apply to the consideration of the ethical questions which inevitably arise in relation to (equestrian) sport. The derivation and limitations of the ethical framework are explained. The use of the framework will serve both to underwrite the continuation of the social license to use horses in sport and also to enable those within equestrian sport to critically assess existing and proposed practices and to make welfare-improving adjustments to practice if/where necessary. The theoretical framework as presented here is currently being practically tested and refined in consultation with industry stakeholders, and that research will be submitted for publication in due course.

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Recruitment into organised criminal groups: A systematic review

10.52922/ti04183 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Francesco Calderoni ◽

Gian Maria Campedelli

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Social Relations ◽

Mixed Method ◽

Organised Crime ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Work Relations ◽

The Social ◽

Criminal Background ◽

Criminal Groups

This paper provides a narrative synthesis of the results of a systematic review of the social, psychological and economic factors leading to recruitment into organised crime. This is based on the analysis of evidence emerging from 47 qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method studies published in or before 2017. While the selected studies varied markedly in method and quality, several factors emerged as particularly important in understanding recruitment into organised criminal groups. These included the role of social relations (family, kinship, friendship and work-relations), criminal background and criminal skills.

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The Workplace Commons: Towards Understanding Commoning within Work Relations

Sociology ◽

10.1177/0038038520904711 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 711-726

Author(s):

Marek Korczynski ◽

Andreas Wittel

Keyword(s):

Social Theory ◽

Social Relations ◽

Work Relations ◽

The Social ◽

The Commons

One of the most important focuses in social theory within the last decade has been upon the commons. We contribute to the emerging scholarship on the commons. We point out that this literature tends to neglect the workplace. We then argue that the workplace should be included as a potentially important arena of commoning. Going to studies of the workplace, we find that scholarship has implicitly found key emergent elements of commoning within the social relations of work. We develop a concept of the workplace commons, and consider arguments that the workplace commons is merely a fix for capitalism.

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Bringing the street back in: Considering strategy, contingency and relative good fortune in street children’s access to paid work in Accra

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1177/0038026118771279 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 66 (5) ◽

pp. 1058-1073 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Phil Mizen

Keyword(s):

Social Relations ◽

Street Children ◽

Paid Work ◽

Strategic Action ◽

Social Agents ◽

Good Fortune ◽

Root Cause ◽

The Social ◽

Dominant Narratives

A sociology of street children has emerged defined by its rejection of the dominant narratives of child welfare organisations that identify the street as the root cause of children’s immiseration and improper socialisation. In its place, sociological analysis has undermined the value of conceptualising street children as a coherent group on the street and in a parallel move has looked to conceptually reposition street children away from assumptions of passivity and neglect, towards a foundational insistence that the starting place for analysis is the positioning of street children as active and strategic social agents. It is the adequacy of this latter concern that is the focus of this article. By reintroducing the location of children within the social relations of the informal street economy, this article draws upon extensive and long-term qualitative research examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. The argument here is that sociological notions of strategic action and efficacious agency seem ill-suited to accounting for the dilemmas and difficulties that street children’s quests for paid work inevitably involve. Rather, it is relative good fortune within the radical uncertainty of the social relations of the informal street economy that seems much more appropriate to accounting for how these children are integrated into work.

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The Social Ordering of an Everyday Practice: The Case of Laundry

Sociology ◽

10.1177/0038038517722932 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (6) ◽

pp. 1134-1151 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Josephine Mylan ◽

Dale Southerton

Keyword(s):

Social Relations ◽

Science And Technology Studies ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Sustainable Consumption ◽

Technological Determinism ◽

The Social ◽

Object Use ◽

Micro Level ◽

Coordination Activity

Sociological contributions to debates surrounding sustainable consumption have presented strong critiques of methodological individualism and technological determinism. Drawing from a range of sociological insights from the fields of consumption, everyday life and science and technology studies, these critiques emphasize the recursivity between (a) everyday performances and object use, and (b) how those performances are socially ordered. Empirical studies have, however, been criticized as being descriptive of micro-level phenomena to the exclusion of explanations of processes of reproduction or change. Developing a methodological approach that examines sequences of activities this article explores different forms of coordination (activity, inter-personal and material) that condition the temporal and material flows of laundry practices. Doing so produces an analysis that de-centres technologies and individual performances, allowing for the identification of mechanisms that order the practice of laundry at the personal, household and societal levels. These are: social relations; cultural conventions; domestic materiality; and institutionalized temporal rhythms. In conclusion, we suggest that addressing such mechanisms offers fruitful avenues for fostering more sustainable consumption, compared to dominant approaches that are founded within ‘deficit models’ of action.

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The SRM Approach to Family Assessment

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759.21.4.216 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 216-225 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

William L. Cook

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

Risk Behaviors ◽

Social Relations ◽

Family Relationships ◽

Family Dynamics ◽

Family Assessment ◽

High Risk Behaviors ◽

Analysis Group ◽

The Social ◽

Direction Of Effects

Abstract. In family systems, it is possible for one to put oneself at risk by eliciting aversive, high-risk behaviors from others ( Cook, Kenny, & Goldstein, 1991 ). Consequently, it is desirable that family assessments should clarify the direction of effects when evaluating family dynamics. In this paper a new method of family assessment will be presented that identifies bidirectional influence processes in family relationships. Based on the Social Relations Model (SRM: Kenny & La Voie, 1984 ), the SRM Family Assessment provides information about the give and take of family dynamics at three levels of analysis: group, individual, and dyad. The method will be briefly illustrated by the assessment of a family from the PIER Program, a randomized clinical trial of an intervention to prevent the onset of psychosis in high-risk young people.

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