I adapt for consolidation, I change to avoid stagnation: Perceptions about Digital Labour in Rafaela (Santa Fe) (2019 and 2021)

Abstract

The digitization of the world of work is an unavoidable aspect when it comes to approaching the ways of working today. This article aims to investigate perceptions about digital work in the city of Rafaela (Santa Fe) in the 21st century. From a sociology of bodies/emotions we understand that perceptions are the background of social practices and that, in digital work, these are reconfigured along with structural changes in temporal and spatial logics. For this reason, we implemented a qualitative methodological strategy with purposive and snowball sampling, through the technique of semi-structured online interviews.

We found that, with regard to the characteristics of digital work, the relationship of workers with their customers is intensified, sometimes more directly (as a boss) and sometimes more indirectly, depending on the type of occupation. In addition, work is valued positively as a place of professional and personal training: experience is measured by the diversity of jobs/clients and not by the number of years of activity. With respect to time perceptions, our findings showed that productive time is prioritized over other times, and its control becomes a fantasy that is difficult to achieve. The variables of time and space are closely related: workers carry out their activity at any time and place as long as there are always bodies available and accessible as a commodity. The perceptions of these digital workers shape social sensibilities of adaptation and self-discipline, which intensify the expropriation of bodily/social energies.