Platforms at the Heart of New Form of Labour
Résumé
The paper studies platforms that are often analysed in terms of cooperative economy, sharing economy or peer-to-peer economy, as a virtual infrastructure. The research, based on a sample of 15 platforms, distinguishes between two types of platforms: new media; and transaction platforms. After introducing each type of platform, the paper analyses the role of algorithms, how the platforms fluctuate between the market and outside the market between permanent and temporary labour, between local and global and how they disrupt the regulation of legacy professions. The paper reveals how these "discreet" intermediaries, little by little, became powerful infrastructures and concludes on their role for the future of work.