Daniel Karlsson
Doctoral student
At least I have this freedom : Subjectivity and self-precarization among digital freelancers in the Swedish cultural industries
Author
Summary, in English
The main aim of the thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how digital freelancers are formed as a flexible and entrepreneurial workforce, at the intersection of the platform economy imposing piece-based and precarious working arrangements, and of freelancers’ desires for meaningful, autonomous, and creative work. The study uses a digital ethnographic approach that combines interviews with digital freelancers and digital observations of the platforms that they frequent in order to find work, market themselves, network, and sustain their careers. Theoretically, I draw on Foucauldian theories of governmentality and subjectivation, and Marxian theories of immaterial and affective labor to understand the formation of digital freelance subjects. In particular, I develop the sociological understanding of the form of governmentality which Isabell Lorey has called self-precarization, by anchoring it in the lived experiences and biographies of digital freelancers in the context of the Swedish welfare state.
The study shows how the platform economy contributes to a fragmentation of both labor practices and worker subjectivities. I demonstrate how the platformization of cultural work must be understood in wider terms than what is common in the sociological literature on gig work, where much emphasis is on labor platforms. Instead, I introduce the concept of patchworking to analyze how digital freelancers manage platform precarity by patching together incomes from several types of platforms. I also show how the platform economy leads to a proliferation of unpaid labor, both in terms of taking commissions with little or no compensation and doing uncompensated, reproductive tasks needed to sustain a platform career. I find that digital freelancers negotiate and attach different meanings to unpaid work, often legitimizing it as an investment in their future, while also critiquing or distinguishing themselves from forms they think are unfair or exploitative. Furthermore, I analyze the self-branding practices of digital freelancers and identify different imperatives by which they are encouraged to put their subjectivities to market as commodities or assets. I show why it is necessary to understand self-branding as a multi-platformed practice that functions as an individualized solution for dealing with precarity that also orients freelancers as productive subjects that contribute to the business models of platform companies. Finally, I argue for the importance of studying precarization as a productive process entangled with the formation of subjectivity. I identify several tensions in how my respondents form their professional subjectivities, through which they often normalize and legitimize individual risk and insecurity, while also articulating critique and resistance against it. By focusing on freelancers’ own accounts of how they identify with their work and grapple with the tensions involved, I bring out the nuances of how digital freelancers negotiate insecurity and uncertainty as a new normal.
Department/s
- Sociology
Publishing year
2024-09
Language
English
Full text
- Available as PDF - 13 MB
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Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Lund University
Topic
- Sociology
Keywords
- digital freelancing
- subjectivity
- self-precarization
- gig work
- immaterial labor
- cultural industries
- creative work
- platform economy
- self-branding
- precarity
- digital governmentality
- biopolitics
- kulturarbete
- subjektivitet
- själv-prekarisering
- foucault
- governmentality
- biopolitik
- plattformsarbete
- digitala plattformar
- frilans
- kreativt arbete
- prekaritet
- gigarbete
Status
Published
Project
- At least I have this freedom: Subjectivity and self-precarization among digital freelancers in the Swedish cultural industries
Supervisor
- David Wästerfors
- Bo Isenberg
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-8104-174-3
- ISBN: 978-91-8104-173-6
Defence date
25 October 2024
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, Lund
Opponent
- Dan Kärreman (Professor)