S14. Towards a platformized professionalism?

Abstract

Digital platforms are much discussed for having established new forms of algorithmic labour control, legitimising bogus self-employment and challenging forms of workers’ representation. Less attention has been paid to their impact on professional groups. On the one hand, the open structure of platforms seems to erode the boundaries of existing professional fields and redefine their internal stratification. New regimes of visibility and the centrality of clients’ ratings reduce the authority of professionals, reinforcing historical processes of proletarianisation, which were once associated with professionals working within big organisations. On the other hand, platforms offer new opportunities for professions at the margins and open the field to the emergence of new occupations – e.g. content creators. The connective possibilities and symbolic resources they afford pave the way for the cultivation of professional projects that do not follow a linear trajectory of professionalisation. In this intricate scenario, platforms may be conceived as privileged loci of boundary work, hence a territory of conflict and resistance among fields’ incumbents and newcomers. Embracing the ambivalence of these processes, this session aims to foster dialogue between platform studies and the sociology of professions, bringing together empirical and theoretical contributions that look at the “platformisation of work” from a professional perspective. 

We particularly welcome contributions aligned with the following topics:

• The boundary work configured, enabled and enacted by internal and external actors;

• The role of digital platforms in organising and disciplining professional work;

• The role of digital platforms in (de-) legitimising professional practices;

• The role of digital platforms as “private regulators” of professional groups;

• Emerging models of professionalism associated with digital platforms’ socio-technical characteristics;

• Coalitions and conflicts arising across digital platforms’ boundaries.

Organizers

Francesco Bonifacio, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy, francesco.bonifacio@unicatt.it.

Lara Maestripieri, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, lara.maestripieri@uab.cat.

Brief bios

Francesco Bonifacio is a research fellow at the Department of Sociology of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and a lecturer in Consumer Sociology at the same university. In 2022, he completed his Ph.D. in Sociology, Organizations, Cultures with a thesis on the platform economy, focusing specifically on food delivery riders. His main research interests revolve around the relationship between social processes and technological phenomena, with particular emphasis on the digitization of work and organizations.

Lara Maestripieri is an economic sociologist, specialised in the analysis of social policies. She is distinguished researcher “Ramon y Cajal” at IGOP/Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her research interests concern social change in post-industrial society and, in particular, social innovation in public policies, economic insecurity in Southern European countries, and emerging professions. She is the Vice President of ISA RC52 “Sociology of Professional Groups” board.