The Subsumption of Labor in the Specific Case of Digital Platforms Like Uber

Abstract

An original interpretation of the relationship between labor and capital in the specific case of platforms like Uber is required. To this end, a critical dialog with the works of Simon Joyce (2020) and Sigurd Oppegaard (2023) proves particularly fruitful for the debate, since both authors draw on the essential Marxian category of the subsumption of labor under capital. This relationship is fundamentally parasitic, as, within the sphere of circulation, platforms appropriate part of the drivers’ income, constituting a regressive form of capital accumulation. This dynamic is made possible by the platform’s ownership of a specific technical infrastructure, allowing for the material subsumption of labor under capital, without, however, there being formal or real subsumption. Through this process, platforms like Uber radically restructure the traditional taxi service, imposing extensive external control and a particular form of precarization on drivers.