Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Multi-Method Comparative Study of Uber Drivers

一般观众摘要 该奖项是一个博士论文改进补助金。它支持一个调查优步司机工作经历以及有关他们及其工作的法律的争议的项目。今年，调查人员在波士顿对Uber司机进行了广泛的人种学实地研究，他们发现Uber的算法对员工的工作方式产生了很大的影响，通过透露某些信息，但隐藏其他信息。在这项资助支持的项目中，研究人员将把他们的抽样方法、访谈协议和分析编码扩展到丹麦的哥本哈根，以进行比较。他们的目标是理解Uber在另一个政治经济体（社会民主主义）中出现的“数字工人阶级”，他们有不同的城市交通规范（对骑自行车的强烈文化偏好），以及不同的法律的制度和法律的意识。该研究将为有兴趣监管这支劳动力及其活动的学术和政策受众提供见解。研究结果将在几篇针对专业和非专业读者的文章中进行报道，并为博士论文做出贡献，稍后将出版一本书。技术摘要研究人员将通过比较两个国家背景下优步员工的经验定性数据，美国（波士顿）和丹麦（哥本哈根）。他们计划收集和分析民族志数据，以及历史和当代关于劳动的法律的争议，特别是出租车。作为社会学家和STS学者，研究人员对信息经济中个人和组织之间的关系感兴趣，包括监管机构。虽然随后的法律的案件集中在诸如是否将“按需”工作者归类为雇员或承包商以及所提供的服务是否安全等问题上，但调查人员将重点关注与阶级和权力，公平和公正以及新技术出现时的设计和使用有关的潜在辩论。

General Audience Summary This award is a doctoral dissertation improvement grant. It supports a project investigating the work experience of Uber drivers and the legal disputes about them and their work. The investigators conducted an extensive ethnographic field study of Uber drivers this year in Boston, and they discovered that Uber's algorithms yield great power over how workers work largely, by revealing certain pieces of information but concealing others. In the project supported by this grant, the investigators will extend their sampling method, interview protocol, and analytic coding to Copenhagen, Denmark, for comparative purposes. They aim to understand Uber's emergent "digital working class" in another political economy (a social democracy), with different norms concerning urban transportation (a strong cultural preference for bicycling), and under a different legal system and legal consciousness. The research will generate insights for academic and policy audiences interested in regulating this workforce and its activity. The results will be reported in several articles written for both specialist and non-specialist audiences, and contribute to a doctoral dissertation to be later published as a book.Technical SummaryThe investigators will work towards bridging a gap in understanding about new kinds of work that are emerging consequent to technology by comparing qualitative data about the experience of Uber workers in two national contexts, the US (Boston) and Denmark (Copenhagen). They plan to acquire and analyze ethnographic data alongside historical and contemporary legal disputes about labor in general and ride-for-hire in particular. As sociologists and STS scholars, the investigators are interested in the relationship between individuals and organizations, including regulatory ones, in the information economy. While ensuing legal case have focused on questions such as whether to classify "on-demand" workers as employees or contractors and whether the service provided is safe, the investigators will focus on underlying debates having to do with class and power, equity and fairness, and design and use in the emergence of new technology.