Introduction

The chapter introduces the meaning and implications of precarious work as tied to the gig economy in Indonesia, through engagement with global debates about precaritisation. It also demonstrates the book’s engagement with previous studies, which provides the basis for: (a) utilising a historical approach, equipped by broad comparative insights, to understand Indonesia’s experience, (b) investigating heterogeneity within the terrains of subjectivity and the political, linking them to the specific political and economic contradictions associated with neoliberal consolidation in Indonesia. The book’s case study and the methodological concerns are also explicated here.