Management of the Self in Virtual Work: Self-Organisation and Control Among Professional Online Poker Players

This study is set in the broad context of the changing world of work that is characterised by the dissolution of full-time stable employment and the emergence of precarious, insecure forms of work (see e.g. Gorz, 1999, Hardt and Negri, 2005, Huws, 2016, Lorey, 2015, Ross, 2003, Ross, 2009, Smith, 2001, Standing, 2011). As a response to these labour market uncertainties a growing number of individuals are managing multiple areas of the self as part of their work or occupation. This trend has been termed 'the new worker-subjectivity' or 'the entrepreneurial self' that is formed through practices of self-management (Bührmann, 2005, Lorey, 2009). Despite increasing awareness of the emergence of the entrepreneurial worker-subjectivity, research into practices of self-management has only focused on occupational groups in formal work. Knowledge about the trend in the context of virtual workers who operate outside of conventional working relations and have no publicly recognised work identity is largely missing. In order to address this gap, this study explores how entrepreneurial worker-subjectivities manifest in professional online poker players as an emerging online occupation. It investigates how these workers manage themselves in the absence of formal organisational control and socially recognised occupational norms, and asks what are the effects of this self-management on the quality of their working lives? The study is based on 39 in-depth interviews with people involved in online poker or other similar activities such as online gaming or trading. The interviews were conducted either face-to-face in Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and UK or over Skype between December 2012 and May 2014. The study develops an analytical framework for researching entrepreneurial worker-subjectivities in the context of an emerging occupation and a three-stage-model of the trajectory that provides a basis for exploring the career paths of professional online poker players. Using these framework, the study finds that professional online poker players manage various areas of the self by following informal occupational rules and that their sense of professionalism is largely derived from various practices of self-management that help them distinguish from recreational players. The study also discovers conflicting relations of autonomy and control among the workers and a range of negative effects that self-management practices have on professional online poker players. It concludes that professional online poker is not a sustainable long-term career option. These findings contribute to a better understanding of virtual work, the emergence of online poker playing as a form of work and the development of the entrepreneurial worker-subjectivity

The Platformisation Of Work In Europe: Results from research in 13 European countries

These data are from an innovative survey carried out fourteen times across thirteen European countries (with the United Kingdom being surveyed twice - in 2016 and 2019), revealing, for the first time, the extent and characteristics of platform workers. In the above mentioned reports, the survey results are complemented by in-depth interviews with a range of platform workers, shedding light on the realities of their working lives, including the stresses, fears and health hazards they face, as well as the satisfactions they experience. This joint research project was launched in January 2016. It was carried out by the University of Hertfordshire in association with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and UNI Europa, the European services workers union. Co-funding for national surveys was provided by Unionen in Sweden, the TNO Research Institute in the Netherlands, The Chamber of Labour (AK) in Austria, ver.di and IG Metall in Germany, syndicom in Switzerland, the Fondazione EYU in Italy, the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) in Estonia, the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation and Service Union United (PAM), in Finland, the Felipe Gonzalez Foundation in Spain, Progresiva in Slovenia, the Masarykova demokratická akademie and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung office in Prague in Czechia, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the UK and the Fondation Jean-Jaurès in France. Fieldwork for the 14 surveys in the 13 countries was carried out by Ipsos MORI between January 2016 and May 2019.Foundation For European Progressive StudiesTrades Union Congress (TUC

Work in the European Gig Economy : Research Results from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy

These data are from an innovative survey across seven European countries, revealing, for the first time, the extent and characteristics of crowd workers in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. In the associated report, the survey results are complemented by in-depth interviews with a range of crowd workers, shedding light on the realities of their working lives, including the stresses, fears and health hazards they face, as well as the satisfactions they experience. This joint research project, which is ongoing, was launched in January 2016. It is being carried out by the University of Hertfordshire in association with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and UNI Europa, the European services workers union. Co-funding for national surveys was provided by the Trade Union Unionen in Sweden, the TNO Research Institute in the Netherlands, The Chamber of Labour (AK) in Austria, the Trade Unions Ver.di and IG Metall in Germany, the Trade Union syndicom in Switzerland and the Fondazione EYU in Italy. Fieldwork for the surveys in these seven countries was carried out by Ipsos MORI between January 2016 and April 2017

Towards a Taxonomy of Virtual Work

Online spaces have led to novel forms of activity. These include real-money trading in massively multiplayer online role-playing games, on-line content production, working through crowdsourcing Internet marketplaces, online gambling, playing human-based computation games, or just browsing on the Internet, sharing files, and connecting with friends. A growing number of scholars refer to them as new labour activities, virtual work, digital labour or describe them as new sources of value creation for capital. Along with all these developments, new terms describing the virtual workforce are also emerging - Gold Farmer, Prosumer, Turker or Microworker are only a few examples. Despite these new terms and categories, there is a lack of conceptual framework and understanding of what constitutes virtual work in more general terms. There is no clear classification of this type of work and no clear separation from the work that takes place in the ´real world´. This paper explores the obstacles that are blocking the way for building a classification and moving towards a definition and taxonom

Work in the European Gig Economy: Research Results from the UK, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy

These data are from an innovative survey across seven European countries, revealing, for the first time, the extent and characteristics of crowd workers in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. In the associated report, the survey results are complemented by in-depth interviews with a range of crowd workers, shedding light on the realities of their working lives, including the stresses, fears and health hazards they face, as well as the satisfactions they experience. This joint research project, which is ongoing, was launched in January 2016. It is being carried out by the University of Hertfordshire in association with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and UNI Europa, the European services workers union. Co-funding for national surveys was provided by the Trade Union Unionen in Sweden, the TNO Research Institute in the Netherlands, The Chamber of Labour (AK) in Austria, the Trade Unions Ver.di and IG Metall in Germany, the Trade Union syndicom in Switzerland and the Fondazione EYU in Italy. Fieldwork for the surveys in these seven countries was carried out by Ipsos MORI between January 2016 and April 2017

Competition, Collaboration and Combination: Differences in Attitudes to Collective Organization Among Offline and Online Platform Workers

© 2021 Informa UK Limited. This is the accepted manuscript version of a book chapter which has been published in final form at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003140054-20/competition-collaboration-combination-kaire-holts-ursula-huws-neil-spencer-matthew-coatesThis chapter focuses on in-depth interviews with a range of different workers for online platforms in Europe to explore the assumption that delivery and driving platform workers’ attitude represent those of working in other platforms and sectors. Respondents were recruited by a variety of means. Some participants were identified randomly as a result of participation in a national survey carried out in the United Kingdom (UK), in which respondents were asked if they would be willing to be re-contacted for a further in-depth interview. Many workers in both categories presented an articulate analysis of the labour market in which they found themselves, where opportunities and threats abounded. An important dimension of the ambivalent attitudes to collective organisation among platform workers is a tension between competition and collaboration among fellow workers. A 30-year-old German product designer provides an example of an online worker who regards other platform workers primarily, and straightforwardly, as competition