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Algorithmic Integration and Precarious (Dis)Obedience: On the Co-Constitution of Migration Regime and Workplace Regime in Digitalised Manufacturing and Logistics

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  • Simon Schaupp

Abstract

This article analyses the interaction of the algorithmic workplace regime and the migration regime in manual work in platform logistics and manufacturing in Germany. Based on ethnographic case studies, the article reconstructs how companies integrate migrant workers by using systems of algorithmic work control. These simplify the labour process and direct workers without relying on a certain language. Algorithmic work control, however, does not realise its intended disciplining effects on its own but is dependent on external factors. A precarious residence status is such an external disciplining factor as it can create an implicit alliance of migrant workers with their employers in the hope for permanent residence. Nonetheless, the interaction of the two regimes also produced new forms of solidarity between the workers, which in some cases led to new forms of self-organisation. Thus, workplace regime and migration regime co-constitute each other.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Schaupp, 2022. "Algorithmic Integration and Precarious (Dis)Obedience: On the Co-Constitution of Migration Regime and Workplace Regime in Digitalised Manufacturing and Logistics," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(2), pages 310-327, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:2:p:310-327
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211031458
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Juliet B Schor & Christopher Tirrell & Steven Peter Vallas, 2024. "Consent and Contestation: How Platform Workers Reckon with the Risks of Gig Labor," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1423-1444, October.
    3. Miłosz Miszczyński & Patrizia Zanoni, 2025. "Coercion and Consent under Techno-Economic Despotism: Workers’ Alienation and ‘Liberation’ in the Amazon Warehouse," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(5), pages 1179-1200, October.
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    5. Pedro Mendonça & Nadia K Kougiannou, 2025. "‘We Are Not All the Same’: The Capacity of Different Groups of Food Delivery Gig Workers to Build Collective and Individual Power Resources," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 39(2), pages 311-335, April.

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