Unpacking informality in the gig-economy: ethnographic insights into platform capitalism and its baroque labour process

This paper sheds light on workers’ agency in dealing with algorithmic management and the informal arrangements underneath the platform economy. The research is based on a multi-sited ethnography of last-mile logistics platforms carried out between Italy and Argentina. In both ride-hailing and food-delivery platforms, workers engage in infrastructural re-appropriations and informal economic activities developed at the boundaries of the platform economy. The two cases studied illustrate how platforms strongly intersect with urban informal economies and contribute to foster informal circuits of labour. This is evidenced by the prevalence of illicit exchanges, such as the sale of hacking bots and markets for fake accounts. The paper conclusions provide a baroque perspective for a more nuanced understanding of the labour process and its accumulation circuits in the gig economy, characterised by a complex interplay between formal and informal dimensions of work. Yet, far from hindering the platform economy, informality underpins the companies’ ability to thrive in local social contexts.