Paper short abstract:

Practice theories provide a deeper understanding of the dialectic of self-determination and external control in digital work contexts. We focus on the example of digital crowdworkers and their work practices with an emphasis on the control technologies and the significance of the subjects' obstinacy

Paper long abstract:

Crowdwork denotes forms of labor in which people work digitally on tasks offered by digital platforms. Crowdworkers are formally self-employed and can choose which tasks they take on. The platforms use different (digital) means of worker control (e.g. nudging mechanisms, non-monetary incentives) to encourage crowdworkers to be active on the platform and to ensure the quality of their work. Such technological implementations on platforms and the corresponding strategies of platforms have been widely discussed in previous research. What is often overlooked, however, is the crowdworkers' scope for obstinate practices.

This is where practice theory comes into play. The presentation will discuss how practice theories can be used to analyze the dialectical relationship between self-determination and external control by focusing on the the tactics and „arts of doing“ (de Certeau) of individuals. In our research project on crowdwork (https://www.hsu-hh.de/bbp/en/research/crowdwork/), we interviewed German crowdworkers on different platforms in which (among other topics) their work practice and its embeddedness in their daily lives were addressed. Based on these interviews and with reference to practice theories, we focus on how the work practices of crowdworkers diverge from the expectations of the platform operators. In particular, the ways of dealing with the digital control techniques are distinguished and analyzed.

Crowdwork serves as an empirical example to illustrate the potential of practice theories to analyze the dialectic of self-determination and heteronomy in digital labor processes. The presentation concludes with a brief reflection if and how the findings can be generalized to other digital work contexts.