Accanto ad un processo generale di digitalizzazione del lavoro è emerso un modello di impresa - quello delle piattaforme - che ha portato alla ribalta una tipologia nuova di attore economico. Queste aziende - il cui sviluppo va collocato all'interno di una tendenza più complessiva verso la de-strutturazione dei rapporti di lavoro di tipo subordinato, l'erosione del salario e una razionalità logistica - contribuiscono in maniera determinante oggi alla ridefinizione di quello che concepiamo come lavoro. Questi cambiamenti, ovviamente, non sono analizzabili meramente nei termini di un incremento tecnologico ma tagliano trasversalmente una serie di relazioni - tanto economiche quanto sociali e politiche. Detto altrimenti, l'espansione del capitalismo delle piattaforme non è stata esente, anzi è strutturalmente accompagnata da uno spettro largo di resistenze e conflitti. Lo sviluppo repentino tanto delle piattaforme quanto dei conflitti ha stimolato sempre di più un dibattito pubblico che si è spostato dalla discussione generale sul futuro del lavoro e delle nostre società alla necessità presente di governare questo sviluppo, in primis per quanto riguarda le condizioni del lavoro digitale e digitalizzato. In questo articolo si propone una mappatura a livello europeo delle differenti pratiche di governance urbana del lavoro di piattaforma analizzando limiti e possibilità.
The article aims first of all to retrace the evolution of some paths of social mobilization around precariousness in Italy. The basic assumption is that such condition cannot be reduced to a sociological or economic category, but rather constitutes a ground for trade union organisation and political claims. I will articulate this analysis into two historically distinct moments on the basis of the ways in which precariousness has been described and opposed. Compared to a first moment in which the rise and narration of new working subjects took the centre of the stage, it seems possible to identify a second kind of mobilisations in which – while maintaining an alternation between specific disputes and general movements – the issue of precariousness spilled over and involved bio-political aspects as social reproduction and self-determination. Therefore, the forms of protest are also transformed: in the final part of the article I will try to clarify the main features of the social strike experiments that have occurred in Italy in recent years.
The article aims first of all to retrace the evolution of some paths of social mobilization around precariousness in Italy. The basic assumption is that such condition cannot be reduced to a sociological or economic category, but rather constitutes a ground for trade union organisation and political claims. I will articulate this analysis into two historically distinct moments on the basis of the ways in which precariousness has been described and opposed. Compared to a first moment in which the rise and narration of new working subjects took the centre of the stage, it seems possible to identify a second kind of mobilisations in which –while maintaining an alternation between specific disputes and general movements– the issue of precariousness spilled over and involved bio-political aspects as social reproduction and self-determination. Therefore, the forms of protest are also transformed: in the final part of the article I will try to clarify the main features of the social strike experiments that have occurred in Italy in recent years. ; L'article vise tout d'abord à retracer l'évolution de certaines trajectoires des mobilisations sociales concernant la précarité en Italie. L'hypothèse de base est que cette condition ne peut être réduite à une catégorie sociologique ou économique mais constitue plutôt un terrain d'organisation syndicale et de revendications politiques. L'analyse que je présente sera articulée en deux moments historiquement distincts selon la manière dont la précarité a été décrite et combattue. Par rapport à un premier moment, dans lequel la montée et la mise en récit de nouveaux sujets du travail ont pris le devant de la scène, il semble possible d'identifier une deuxième phase de mobilisations dans laquelle –tout en maintenant une alternance entre conflits spécifiques et mouvements généralistes– la question de la précarité a débordé et a inclus des dimensions biopolitiques comme la reproduction sociale et l'autodétermination. Par conséquent, les formes de contestation sont également transformées: dans la dernière partie de l'article, j'essaierai de clarifier les principales caractéristiques des expériences de grève sociale qui ont eu lieu en Italie ces dernières années.
Marx continua ad essere un pensatore vivo, come dimostrano i numerosi studi degli ultimi anni. Marx va costantemente alla ricerca di quelle forze soggettive che possano fare la storia dal suo interno. E le individua in quelle potenze produttive che sono trasformate in soggetto storico all'interno della società civile moderna. Il capitale per Marx non è soltanto una gigantesca macchina che produce ricchezza. È prima di tutto un rapporto sociale. Accanto alle logiche della valorizzazione sono necessarie e si sviluppano delle tecniche di potere che producono la soggettività del lavoro. Governare la forza-lavoro significa istituire un rapporto di subalternità, disciplinare l'uso dei corpi, regolare la mobilità e l'accesso degli individui alla ricchezza. È per questo motivo che ho trovato utile riprendere alcuni tasselli della complessa produzione teorica foucaultiana al fine di pensare l'impensato in Marx. Il mio lavoro si colloca ai bordi di questa frontiera per spingersi oltre, indagando le strategie, i metodi e le tecniche tramite le quali per Marx la forza-lavoro è catturata in una rete di produzione/potere. Questa maglia di relazioni soggettive e dispositivi oggettivi costituisce quella che Marx chiama la società civile. La bürgerliche Gesellschaft, infatti, non è per Marx solo il luogo dello scambio, della compravendita della forza-lavoro, del sistema dei bisogni, ma anche spazio della cooperazione, della costituzione di corpi collettivi, dello sviluppo di forme organizzative e aspirazioni politiche. È così che il governo della forza-lavoro (in senso oggettivo) si tramuta in liberazione delle forze produttive tramite l'invenzione di nuove istituzioni (quel governo del lavoro vivo in senso soggettivo esemplificato dalla Comune di Parigi). ; Marx continues to be a lively thinker, as shown by numerous studies in recent years. Marx is constantly looking for those subjective forces that could act the story from the inside. And he identifies them in those productive powers that have become an historical subject within modern civil society. Capital for Marx is not only a gigantic machine that produces wealth. It is first and foremost a social relationship. In addition to the logic of enhancement, techniques of power are necessary and developed in order to produce the subjectivity of the work. Governing the workforce means to establish a subordinate relationship, to control the use of bodies, to adjust the mobility and access of individuals to wealth. It is for this reason that I found useful to take some pieces of the complex theoretical production of Foucault in order to think the unthinkable in Marx. My work is at the edge of this border to go further by investigating the strategies, methods and techniques through which workforce is captured in a production/power network. This web of subjective relations and objective devices constitutes what Marx calls the civil society. The bürgerliche Gesellschaft, in fact, for Marxi s not only the place of exchange and of the system of needs, but also field for cooperation, for the production of collective bodies, and development of organizational forms and political aspirations. That is how the government of the workforce (in the objective sense) turns into liberation of the productive forces through the invention of new institutions (that government of living labor in the subjective sense exemplified by the Paris Commune).
While regeneration is emerging as a paradigm capable of inspiring public policies and transforming lifestyles, the urban space remains a fertile ground in which collective initiatives based on activism and solidarity can emerge. The aim of this article is to describe some social and political practices in self-managed spaces and their relationship both with the wider background of the city and with local institu-tions. We argue that processes of institutionalization could affect practices of self-organization and political participation in different ways: these processes could mark the cooptation of conflicts into local administration strategies as well as open new forms of politicization around urban commons. We will present a case study, the evolution of the social centre Làbas in Bologna city, as a testing ground to explore and examine these practices and interactions. In the following paragraphs, we define the self-managed social centres, considering the processes of repression and institutionalization, and the development of new forms of political participation. Then we focus on the history of Bologna's social centres. Finally, we analyze the case study, briefly describing the process of institutionalization and the evolution of its practices.
This open access book provides an overview of urban digital platforms such as Airbnb and Deliveroo, which, along with Amazon, Google, Facebook, and other IT companies, constitute by now the infrastructures for other businesses to operate on and for our social life to go on. These platforms serve as standards-based techno-economic systems that simultaneously capture cooperation through remote coordination and organize labor via algorithm management. Based on a three-years research project, this contributed book outlines a general theory of platform capitalism that conceives these platforms not only as technical devices, but as generative engines that operate at the interface of several aspects, such as digitalization of forms of social cooperation; algorithm-based management of labor and participation; and private and vertical appropriation of profits. These elements are somehow iconic of the capitalist evolution of the last decades, and they open up a reflection on new forms of "primitive accumulation" (in particular regarding data), on the mechanisms used to capture and extract social surplus value, and on the logistic-financial dimensions of capital. Finally, in light of the transformations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors examine how platforms can evolve into hegemonic organizational structures. Assuming we are all already living in the age of the platform, this book takes a multifaceted approach—combining sociology with urban studies, and political sciences with economics—to grasp the challenges our societies face in terms of ensuring fair economic growth, adequate social protections, and labor rights. It will appeal to anyone interested in digital platforms and how they are changing the organization of labor, urban spaces, and forms of governance.
Cities play a major role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic as many measures are adopted at the scale of cities and involve adjustments to the way urban areas operate. Drawing from case studies across the globe, this book explores how the pandemic and the policies it has prompted have caused changes in the ways cities function. The contributors examine the advancing social inequality brought on by the pandemic and suggest policies intended to contain contagion whilst managing the economy in these circumstances. Offering crucial insights for reforming cities to be more resilient to future crises, this is an invaluable resource for scholars and policy makers alike
