The effects of work. A Simmelian view of delivery platforms

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Juan Bautista Ballestrin
University of Buenos Aires

Based on historical materialistic perspectives that account for certain characteristics of the work at delivery platforms, this article presents a qualitative analysis of such work, taking workers currently operating in the City of Buenos Aires as empirical reference. A Simmelian theoretical interweaving of the categories of money, freedom, vocation, acceleration and boredom is carried out to reveal some of the subjective foundations on which this type of employment is based, as well as certain adverse personal effects and affections it can cause to those who carry it out.

Keywords
delivery platforms, vocation, boredom, acceleration, negative freedom

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How to Cite
Ballestrin, Juan Bautista. “The effects of work. A Simmelian view of delivery platforms”. Digithum, no. 29, pp. 1-9, doi:10.7238/d.v0i29.394504.
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(c) Juan Bautista Ballestrin, 2023


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Author Biography

Juan Bautista Ballestrin, University of Buenos Aires

Degree in Sociology (University of Buenos Aires - UBA), PhD candidate in Social Sciences (UBA), doctoral fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) of Argentina, based at the Gino Germani Research Institute, belonging to the School of Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires. Assistant professor of Georg Simmel: the Reification of Modern Society and The Idea of Nation, seminars belonging to the Sociology course at the University of Buenos Aires. Member of research groups at the University of Buenos Aires in projects on Critical Theory of Society, Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory and Sociology of Work. His studies focus on labour issues in current societies, favoring qualitative enquiries that seek to reveal processes of working-class alienation, based on ethnographic research methodologies.

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