Once it had succeeded in securing low barriers to entry, the platform still needed to find large numbers of people interested in joining the profession. Uber’s business model meant that the supply of drivers has to exceed the demand for rides. In this regard, racialized populations constituted a valuable reserve army of workers for the platform’s deployment. These workers occupy a specific position in the employment systems of the three cities. This subproletariat is more exposed to unemployment, job insecurity and the risk of demotion, and are often given subordinate positions. To this may be added the pressure linked to the fact that they are often fathers and the family’s main breadwinner, as their wives tend to be inactive. However, despite the shared gender and racial properties of the majority of Uber drivers, we do not view these workers as a homogeneous population. This chapter studies individuals from the upper or upper-middle economic classes with degrees or experience, but whose diplomas and professional experience are not recognized—or not to the expected extent—who enter the Uber driver profession on a main or complementary basis with the aim of mitigating demotion.

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A Job to Mitigate Demotion

  • Sophie Bernard

摘要

Once it had succeeded in securing low barriers to entry, the platform still needed to find large numbers of people interested in joining the profession. Uber’s business model meant that the supply of drivers has to exceed the demand for rides. In this regard, racialized populations constituted a valuable reserve army of workers for the platform’s deployment. These workers occupy a specific position in the employment systems of the three cities. This subproletariat is more exposed to unemployment, job insecurity and the risk of demotion, and are often given subordinate positions. To this may be added the pressure linked to the fact that they are often fathers and the family’s main breadwinner, as their wives tend to be inactive. However, despite the shared gender and racial properties of the majority of Uber drivers, we do not view these workers as a homogeneous population. This chapter studies individuals from the upper or upper-middle economic classes with degrees or experience, but whose diplomas and professional experience are not recognized—or not to the expected extent—who enter the Uber driver profession on a main or complementary basis with the aim of mitigating demotion.