Beyond a Single Gig Class: How Material Dependence and Relational Power Shape Platform Workers' Politico-Economic Orientations

Abstract

Digital labour platforms have been commonly described as giving rise to a uniform class of precarious workers. However, there are significant differences between part-time freelancing online and earning one's living from debt-funded food deliveries on the one hand and the workers' dependence on platform income, ability to save, skills, access to other employment opportunities and influence over the working conditions on the other. This structured integrative review draws on 15 peer-reviewed articles from 2016 to 2026 to explore how the class position of platform workers relates to their politico-economic orientations and predisposition to action. Class position in the present study is conceptualised in two dimensions: the first concerns the material resources available to the worker (income and savings and thus his/her ability to sustain income losses and leave the platform), while the second refers to relational power (ability to influence prices, task assignments, data management, ratings and dispute resolution). High dependence coupled with low relational power makes platform workers particularly exposed to procedural injustice and may lead to more social protection orientation. Welfare preferences depend on skills, having the main job at the platform and the characteristics of national institutions. Workers might distrust the platform due to its algorithmic decisions, but not because of governmental institutions and regulators. Lastly, grievance does not necessarily entail collective action; mobilization hinges on the workers' communication networks, attributions, organizational assistance and acceptable levels of risk of income losses and deactivation.