Pra quem tem fome: vigilância e controle algorítmicos no processo de trabalho de um aplicativo de entrega em Curitiba

Abstract

The labor’s subordination to capital drives to surveillance and control, in order to increase the division of tasks and standardize processes under the management’s watchful eye. In this context, the increased use of digital platforms in everyday life introduces algorithms as monitoring tools, as well as fundamental elements in the functioning of digital technologies, since they enhance the control of workers in labor processes. Technologies also enable new activities to be appropriated and incorporated into the capitalist relation, allowing the introduction of new workflows to the value chain. Thus, organizations known as digital platforms use the premise of being technology companies as a shield to hide the principles, beliefs and values of the algorithms that they develop. However, it can be said that algorithms carry cultural and market values, as well as the principles of the platforms themselves, whose purpose is performance efficiency. The interdependence between these technologies and the work activities of the individuals who make use of them are an important aspect to understand the recent transformations in labor relations. Hence, the purpose of this research is to reflect on the algorithmic surveillance and control used by the labor management from the perspective of delivery workers registered with iFood, a delivery platform, in the city of Curitiba. To reach this goal, reflections regarding the issues related to algorithmic neutrality, the influence of algorithmic management on behaviors and the way technologies organize work which are associated with self-management, individual entrepreneurship and information collection and processing by the platforms. For this, we propose an investigation that starts firstly by analyzing videos produced by two of such delivery workers, freely accessible on the YouTube platform. They are relevant material to understand the functionality of the application and the delivery activity in its operation. A second stage of the research consisted of in-depth interviews with seven delivery riders, aiming to capture the workers’ comprehension and experiences. The reports of their daily life and the use of apps provided an outline of the social organization that shapes and is shaped by the subjectivities of these workers who constitute these relationships. This document collection was interpreted, from the conceptualization of disciplinary procedures, subordinated self-management, asymmetry of information and algorithmic panopticon, shedding light to relevant considerations about the mechanisms of algorithmic surveillance and control for management of labor employed by digital platforms. The observation of the research corpus indicated, among others, the technical division of activities in series for the monitoring of the execution by the corporation, the absence of a direct human management, the unsatisfactory support reported by the workers, the limitation of the autonomy of these subjects, and the influence of the companies’ guideline in the performance of the work processes.