Peiwans’ Digital Labor Processes And Class Consciousness

In the platform economy,digital labor as a kind of "post-labor" has given rise to the emergence of digital laborers,and the impact of this group on the social class structure has attracted widespread attention from the academic circle.Some scholars believe that the emergence of digital laborers has reconstructed the existing social class structure,while others believe that the emergence of digital laborers is a reproduction or even a reinforcement of the social class structure.In China,the class consciousness of digital laborers has received little attention.With the intervention of digital technology,the relationship between "play" and"labor" has been transformed,as a result,Peiwans have been pushed from "backstage" to"foreground".Peiwans are becoming an important peephole for scholars to re-examine social relations and labor practices.The study adopts the virtual ethnography approach,taking Peiwans as a case,using semi-structured interview and participant observation for data collection,basing on Freire’s False-Critical Consciousness Theory to explore the process of inter-construction about peiwans’ class consciousness and their digital labor,and then analyzes the impact of Peiwans’situation on the class structure in China.To this end,the study focuses on reflections of Peiwans about their own digital labor processes.Firstly,elaborating the digital labor processes of Peiwans,we understand how capital achieves control over their digital labor processes and systematically sort out their labor dilemmas.Secondly,we analyze how Peiwans perceive the causes of their social status.Finally,we present Peiwans’ strategies in response to capital control,and explore their social mobility possibility.The paper will provide a new window for exploring the formation and development of digital labor class consciousness,which is important for examining the China’s social class structure during the transition period,as well as greatly increase dialogue between digital labor theories and traditional labor theories.The study finds that Peiwans generate a false class consciousness in their digital labor processes.On one side,under the control of platform algorithms and organizational technology,Peiwans participate in "autonomous labor" according to the rules set by the coding elite,and they are not fully aware of the inequality of industrial relations.On the other side,Peiwans attribute the reasons for their labor dilemmas to individuals,failure in education has prompted them to work as Peiwans,and when they confront "bad bosses" is because of their bad luck.Last but not least,the reinforcement of the subordinate status for platform,the emphasis of individual effort in China’s social class structure,the devaluation of manual labor,as well as the characteristics of "playing labor" have eroded the Peiwans’ sense of autonomy and belief in reform,making them to choose silence and patience under the capital exploitation and oppression.Thanks above,the study points out that Peiwans fail to form a new social class,and its emergence is a reproduction of the existing social class structure.Basing on the dichotomy of"mastery of the means of production" and the socioeconomic status(SES)to divide social class structure is no longer relevant.The proximity to the means of production determines the unequal status between coded elites and digital laborers(Burrell&Fourcade,2021).At present,China is in the period of modernization transition and economic system reform,the awareness of class consciousness on this group and the influence of contemporary China’s social stratum’s structure should be paid high attention by academia and the society.The study is innovative and informative for exploring the China’s social class structure during the platform economy.