Jonas Hulgård Kristiansen's PhD defence at the Department of Sociology

Candidate

Jonas Hulgård Kristiansen

Jonas Hulgård Kristiansen, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Title

The Worker, the Consumer, and the Platform
- A Quantitative Exploration of Work Patterns and Employment. Practices in the Danish Platform Economy

Assessment Committee

  • Professor Antti Saloniemi, Tampere University
  • Professor MSO Janine Leschke, Copenhagen Business School
  • Associate Professor Carsten Strøby Jensen (Chair), University of Copenhagen

    Supervisor: Professor Trine Pernille Larsen, FAOS, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Host

Bente Halkier, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen

Time and place

6 June 2024, kl. 13:00 - 16:00
Auditorium 1.1.18. (first floor building 1)
University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Sciences, CSS, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 1353 København K.

The PhD dissertation will be available through Academic Books as an e-publication.

After the defence, all are welcome to join us at a reception in meeting room 16.1.62 from around 15:00.

Meeting room 16.1.62 is in building 16, at the Department of Sociology.

Engelsk resume (shortened)

The rapid evolution and expansion of digital labor platforms across various sectors that now cover food delivery, ride-hailing, care work, home improvement services, data analysis, and software development, have increasingly caught the eye of consumers, policy-makers, and scholars. Both the policy and scholarly debates on labor platforms revolve around whether (and how) platform work is changing (and deteriorating) working conditions as potential harbingers of a new future of work. The aim of the dissertation is to contribute to the literature by engaging with the overarching research puzzle of how digital labor platforms relate to the traditional labor market and existing patterns of inequalities in standard and non-standard work in Denmark.

The dissertation provides an empirical assessment of the dynamics of platform work in Denmark, considering the perspectives of workers, existing labor market structures, and consumer attitudes and how these factors interact to shape the evolving landscape of platform work. The dissertation utilizes different data sources and quantitative methods to address some of the challenges related to quantitatively researching platform work. Theoretically, it places platform work in a broader sociology of work context. Analytically, it introduces typologies on platform workers' activity patterns and their relationship to the traditional labor market, emphasizing the importance of understanding these interrelationships. Additionally, it highlights the role of consumers as key actors influencing labor relations. The findings underscore the complexity of assessing the precariousness of platform work without considering its context within the broader labor market and suggests directions for future research.

All are welcome to participate.