“… You Realize How You Can Use the App and Not Let the App Use You.” The Moral Universe of Latin American Delivery Riders From the Perspective of Democratic Citizenship

ABSTRACT

Algorithmically managed platform labor transforms the organization of employment, but the lived experience of this emerging form of labor has not yet received much attention in the philosophy of work. Starting from the assumption that work shapes individuals as citizens and therefore needs to be evaluated from a democratic perspective, this article explores how delivery riders in Buenos Aires experience this form of employment. Based on qualitative research, it explores two dimensions of the riders' perspective: to whom they ascribe agency and responsibility, and whether they experience spaces for deliberation in the context of their work. We show, in particular, how their ascriptions of responsibility for structural problems often focus on customers, while the company disappears behind the technical affordance of the app, and how the organizational model of platform work minimizes opportunities for deliberation. Our discussion sheds light on the interplay between subjective experiences of work and the broader structural forces shaping contemporary labor markets, and thereby the conditions of democratic politics.