ANU Sociology Seminar Series: "The Economies of Life in the Platform Economy: Social Reproduction, Depletion, and Disposability", A/Prof Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda
Thao Phan
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Thao
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The Economies of Life in the Platform Economy: Social Reproduction, Depletion, and Disposability
Speaker: A/Prof Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda, Universidad del Rosario
Date: Monday 24 March
Time: 12-1pm
Location: Room 4.69 RSSS Building
Chair: Matt Withers
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Meeting ID: 852 9346 6550
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The Economies of Life in the Platform Economy: Social Reproduction, Depletion, and Disposability
This paper examines the dynamics of the platform economy through the lens of social reproduction theory and feminist technoscience approaches to economics and capitalism. Both perspectives converge in their focus on situating bodies and the embodied experience of working and existing at the core of capitalist exploitation. Drawing on data from the action-research project Fairwork Colombia—an initiative that evaluates digital platform working conditions—Oscar analyses the different temporalities of gig work in relation to the life cycle of platform workers.
He explores the short-term temporality of platform labor by examining nutrition and its role in social reproduction and health depletion. In contrast, He discusses the long-term temporality of aging and the prolonged depletion of workers’ well-being. Finally, he addresses the risks and atemporality of death (including accidents and occupational hazards), highlighting the disposability of workers' lifetimes within the platform economy.
Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia). His area of research is the social studies of science and technology. Recently, he has centered his research in the study of the digital economy and mixed and digital research methods for Social Sciences. He is currently Director of the Digital and Inventive Methods Laboratory (DiSoR-LAB) at the Universidad del Rosario and Global South Visiting Fellow at CASS, ANU.