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

本奖项为博士学位论文改进奖。它支持一个项目，调查优步司机的工作经验，以及与他们和他们的工作有关的法律纠纷。调查人员今年在波士顿对优步司机进行了广泛的人种学实地研究，他们发现，优步的算法通过透露某些信息，但隐藏其他信息，在很大程度上影响了员工的工作方式。在这笔赠款支持的项目中，研究人员将把他们的抽样方法、访谈方案和分析编码扩展到丹麦的哥本哈根，以便进行比较。他们的目的是在另一种政治经济学(一种社会民主)中理解优步新兴的“数字工人阶级”，在不同的法律制度和法律意识下，对城市交通有不同的规范(对骑自行车有强烈的文化偏好)。这项研究将为对监管这一劳动力及其活动感兴趣的学术和政策受众提供见解。调查结果将在几篇面向专家和非专家受众的文章中报告，并将撰写一篇博士论文，稍后将作为一本书出版。技术总结调查人员将通过比较优步员工在美国(波士顿)和丹麦(哥本哈根)两个国家的经历的定性数据，努力弥合对技术带来的新类型工作的理解差距。他们计划获取和分析人种学数据，以及有关劳工的历史和当代法律纠纷，特别是租车。作为社会学家和STS学者，研究者对信息经济中个人和组织(包括监管机构)之间的关系感兴趣。尽管接踵而至的法律案件集中在以下问题上：是否将“按需”工人归类为雇员或承包商，以及提供的服务是否安全，调查人员将专注于与阶级和权力、公平和公平，以及在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.