News and Research articles on Inequality

Superhighway to serfdom: The political economy of the metaverse

Tom Mamer, Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg (OGBL)
Annette Freyberg-Inan, University of Amsterdam
PUBLISHED ON: 24 Sep 2026 DOI: 10.14763/2026.3.2113

Plans for the metaverse are threatening to move us out of market capitalism into a technofeudal order – liberal market governance is no longer a sufficient regulatory response.

Addressing gendered affordances of the platform economy: the case of UpWork

Elisabetta Stringhi, University of Milan
PUBLISHED ON: 22 Mar 2022 DOI: 10.14763/2022.1.1634

UpWork affordances are gendered affordances, since male users are allowed different conducts compared to female freelancers, who experience cyberviolence. UpWork serves as a case study to investigate the relationship between digital platform functioning and gender inequality in a platform economy context.

Hidden inequalities: the gendered labour of women on micro-tasking platforms

Paola Tubaro, Université Paris-Saclay
Marion Coville, University of Poitiers
Clément Le Ludec, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Antonio A. Casilli, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
PUBLISHED ON: 22 Feb 2022 DOI: 10.14763/2022.1.1623

Platform micro-work fails to fill the legacy gaps that separate women from rewarding tech careers, and maintains them in low-level roles.