Platform Cooperativism: what is the extent to which online cooperative models address precarious labour among young platform workers?

研究问题：与合作社中的独立工人和他们自己的工人相比，合作社平台如何处理不稳定的劳动？平台合作社中年轻人中不稳定劳动的发生率是多少？平台合作社对平台经济对其劳动力的限制有何不同？平台合作社的年轻工人面临哪些挑战？未来关于平台合作社劳动力的研究如何框架，以便引起学术界的适当回应？这项研究将使用绑架策略，将参与者置于研究的中心，将他们的解释和动机纳入他们的工作生活(Gidden in Blaikie，2000)。其目的是找到共同的含义，并确定他们在平台合作主义和更广泛的平台经济方面的经验中的差异(Blaikie，2000，第99页)。这一策略旨在根据社会参与者的活动和观点来构建解释，以了解他们对所属网络中的社会交织的描述(Bourdieu，1986；Bourdieu&Wacquant，1992)，即平台合作。本研究将使用多样化的抽样方法(Sampieri等人，2010年)，访谈将遵循半结构化的口述历史方式(Blaikie，2000，p.207)。这种访谈将有助于了解参与者的看法，因此通过这种方法获得的个人故事可以进一步进行分析。以前的独立在线工作者加入或聚集在一起创建自己的平台合作是一种反复出现的情况--根据他们网站的“关于”部分。考虑到这一点，面试问题将考察他们作为独立在线工作者的经历与他们在合作平台上的经历。目的是探索他们的个人动机、期望和意见，以涵盖诸如不稳定的工作、工作与生活平衡、工作质量、工作偏好和价值观等主题。借鉴了Huws及其同事(Huws，et al.，2017，pp.55-56)的方法，对平台工作人员的深入采访揭示了更多的个人隐私细节。这将是了解员工在平台合作中的账户和经历的关键。从采访中收集的主要信息将被转录，以便进行更彻底的审查。为了支持数据组织并减少这一过程的耗时，这项研究将利用NVivo(Sampieri等人，2010年)。经验证据将与之前收集的信息相匹配。这将有助于检验和完善整个文献回顾中涉及的理论以及产生的假设。在这里，关于平台经济中年轻工人和不稳定就业的量化次要数据将与支持总体调查和进一步比较相关。这一结果将与以前关于平台合作主义和一般平台经济的工作进行对比。在分析之后，书面项目的完成将通过将收集到的所有数据联系起来并回答研究问题，进一步得出结论。在收集访问产生的数据后，将安排一次会议，介绍到那时为止的研究结果。目标将是获得可能有助于分析和研究质量的反馈。一旦项目完成，调查结果将在通过面谈过程和会议建立的网络之间共享。本着合作的精神，这项研究的最终目标将是为新生的学术领域做出贡献。这将产生于为那些参与更广泛的平台经济的人寻求更公平的工作条件的建议。

Research questions: How, if at all, precarious labour is addressed by cooperative platforms, compared to independent workers in cooperatives, and those on their own?What is the incidence of precarious labour among the young within platform cooperatives?How differently platform coops respond to the limitations of the platform economy towards its workforce?What are the challenges for young workers in the platform cooperatives?How could future research regarding labour in platform cooperatives be framed in order to generate adequate responses from academia?This research will use an abductive strategy, by placing the participants at the centre of the study, incorporating their interpretations and motives in their work lives (Giddens cited in Blaikie, 2000). The aim is to find common meanings and identify the differences (Blaikie, 2000, p. 99) in their experiences towards Platform Cooperativism and the broader platform economy. This strategy aims to construct explanations based on the activities and views of social actors, to derive an understanding of their accounts towards the social interweaving within the networks they belong (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992), i.e. a platform coop.This study will use a diverse sampling method (Sampieri, et al., 2010), where interviews will follow a semi-structured oral history fashion (Blaikie, 2000, p. 207). This kind of interview will help to understand the perceptions of the participants, so the personal stories obtained from this method can be further subjected to analysis. It is a recurrent situation that former independent online workers join or get together to create their own platform coops - as per the "about" sections of their websites. Considering this, interview questions will examine their experiences as independent online workers compared to their experience in a cooperative platform.The aim will be to explore their personal motives, expectations and opinions to cover themes such as precarious labour, work-life balance, job quality, working preferences and values. Drawing from the methodology carried out by Huws and colleagues (Huws, et al., 2017, pp. 55-56), in-depth interviews with platform workers revealed more personal intimate details. This will be key in understanding workers' accounts and experiences within platform coops.Primary information collected from the interviews will be transcribed for a more thorough examination. To support data organisation and make the process less time-consuming, this research will make use of Nvivo (Sampieri, et al., 2010). The empirical evidence will be matched with the previous information collected. This will serve to test and refine the theories addressed throughout the literature review, as well as the hypotheses generated. Here, quantitative secondary data pertaining young workers and precarious employment within the platform economy will be relevant in supporting the overall investigation and further comparison. The results will be contrasted with previous work on Platform Cooperativism and the general platform economy. Following the analysis, the completion of the written project will draw from linking all data collected and answering the research questions, further leading to its conclusion.After the collection of data generated from the interviews, a conference will be set to present the study results up until that point. The objective will be to receive feedback that could be useful for the analysis and quality of the research. Once the project is completed, findings will be shared among the network built through the interviewing process and the conference. Aligned with a cooperative spirit, the ultimate goal of this research will be to contribute towards the nascent academic field. This will derive in recommendations seeking fairer working conditions for those involved in the broader platform economy.