Choose your hours, choose your work, be your own boss, control your own
income. Welcome to the sharing economy, a nebulous collection of online
platforms and apps that promise to transcend capitalism. Supporters
argue that the gig economy will reverse economic inequality, enhance
worker rights, and bring entrepreneurship to the masses. But does it?
In Hustle and Gig, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle shares the personal stories
of nearly eighty predominantly millennial workers from Airbnb, Uber,
TaskRabbit, and Kitchensurfing. Their stories underline the volatility
of working in the gig economy: the autonomy these young workers expected
has been usurped by the need to maintain algorithm-approved acceptance
and response rates. The sharing economy upends generations of workplace
protections such as worker safety; workplace protections around
discrimination and sexual harassment; the right to unionize; and the
right to redress for injuries. Discerning three types of gig economy
workers--Success Stories, who have used the gig economy to create the
life they want; Strugglers, who can't make ends meet; and Strivers, who
have stable jobs and use the sharing economy for extra cash--Ravenelle
examines the costs, benefits, and societal impact of this new economic
movement. Poignant and evocative, Hustle and Gig exposes how the gig
economy is the millennial's version of minimum-wage precarious work.
