Book of the week: “Digital labor” by Kylie Jarrett

While the working lives of tech entrepreneurs and delivery platform workers seem far removed, both are engaged in digital labor. What unites their experience and allows us to speak of their work under the same umbrella? Is it even possible to talk about digital labor as if it were a single form of work? Digital Labor explores these questions and critically examines the economics, politics, and experiences of workers in these new modes of employment. Kylie Jarrett explores unpaid user activity, platform-mediated gig work, and formal employment within the digital media industries, mapping the common features of these varied practices. The book is suitable for students and scholars of media and communication, sociology, labour studies, and anyone interested in emerging forms of work.