An Infrastructural Study of Embeddedness in XXI Century Economies: Personal Networks, Formality, and Informality in Mexico’s Uber X Online-Labor Market
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The following research study is an empirical examination of the nature and infrastructure of the economic activities carried out in the Online ‘Gig’ Economy (OGE). More specifically, this thesis investigates, through the case study of one singular instance of the OGE (the Uber X market in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico), the role of structures of social relations and institutionalized formal processes with respect to the organization, regulation, transacting, and broader functioning of the OGE. We study these structures and processes through three concrete methods: (1) a series of 15 in-person semi-structured interviews with Uber X drivers and partners in Guadalajara; (2) an online survey distributed through online social networks to a larger pool of Uber X drivers and partners in Guadalajara and (3) the collection (and regression) of data on Uber’s business models and on the economic and social conditions of the countries in which these business models appear. We find: (1) that the operation of the OGE relies on a complexly intertwined dancing around of formality and informality, (2) that the elements of informality in the OGE enhance its social embeddedness, (3) that ‘informal’ workarounds may, paradoxically, have both positive and negative impacts on the formal systems which they underlie, and (4) that on the global scale of Uber’s operations, specific economic and social macro-level affordances correlate with the appearance of informality. We conclude that depending on the context in which it emerges, informality has the potential to impact development both positively and negatively and that its development and impact are closely associated with the affordances and characteristics of structures of social relations.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | [ca. September 2016 - May 2017] |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Adrianza, Publio |
|---|---|
| Advisor | Granovetter, Mark |
Subjects
| Subject | social embeddedness |
|---|---|
| Subject | Science Technology and Society |
| Subject | Stanford University |
| Subject | economic sociology |
| Subject | online economies |
| Subject | online labor markets |
| Subject | intermediation |
| Subject | ride-sharing |
| Subject | Uber |
| Subject | informality |
| Subject | development |
| Subject | Mexico |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Adrianza, Publio. (2017). An Infrastructural Study of Embeddedness in XXI Century Economies: Personal Networks, Formality, and Informality in Mexico’s Uber X Online-Labor Marketl. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.
Collection
Stanford University, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Honors Theses
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- Contact
- publio@stanford.edu
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