Platform, Sharing or Gig? Ambiguities and Ambivalences of the Digitalization of the Economy

The rapid growth of the debate around the crucial transformations that our economy is having through the development and public diffusion of digital technologies seems to have a consequence: the confusing multiplications of words and concepts regarding labour and the following difficulty in formulating univocal definitions. Thus, such ambiguity often impedes to focus the real extent that the impact of digital technologies is having on our society. While in its initial stage their potential in reshaping the organization of services provision has attracted optimist comments from scholars and commentators, especially after workers started to organize and struggle, a flourishing critical literature has later emerged. In this article we want to frame a potential critical point of view on these transformations, focusing on some specific configurations they assumed: the platform business model and the so-called gig and sharing economy. We will start by scrutinizing the concept of platform. At first glance, platform is a business model allowing for the creation of new market places for the exchange of labour power, resources and assets, but they are also responsible of reconfiguring working processes and labour relations towards an algorithm-based exploitation. Secondly, we will move towards sharing economy and gig economy, which represent emerging sectors that, on the other side, condense larger socio-economic transformations. Our aim is to show how these concepts represent a contested terrain between long term innovations, digital technologies and labour struggles.