Going Beyond the Gig: An Ecological Approach to Studying and Intervening in the Gig Economy

Abstract

The "future of work'' is often imagined as a place where advances in computing technology enable work arrangements that are more flexible, agentic, and fulfilling. Workers will leverage digital platforms and algorithmic technologies to be their own boss, working on what they want, when they want. Examining today's gig economy—where these technologies are already deployed—reveals a striking disconnect between promised futures and current reality. Gig workers experience heightened insecurity, constant surveillance, and diminished collective power. By studying the gig economy, which is at the frontier of technological and organizational transformation, we gain crucial insights into what awaits broader segments of the workforce.

Gig workers are not simply canaries in a coal mine. They are active agents pioneering resistance strategies—organizing collectively, deploying technical interventions against algorithmic control, and advocating for legal protections that may shape labor rights for all workers. This dissertation explores how gig workers refuse, resist, and attempt to repair the gig economy through three empirical studies employing qualitative interviews, systems building, and ethnographic research. I study people running a platform cooperative seeking to provide an alternative gig economy, build systems for labor union organizers to transform data into resistance material, and engage in autoethnographic research as a union organizer helping workers hold platforms accountable. I argue that building a more secure, dignified, and equitable future of work requires interventions at the organizational, institutional, and policy levels—not just technical fixes. This dissertation contributes a framework for researcher engagement spanning community-centered methods, real-world system design, and policy collaboration, offering methodological guidance for working alongside community partners, strategies for building collective capacity around data and tools, and actionable pathways for shaping policy to protect workers in platformatized labor.