5 Conclusion
Karl Marx (1852) had noted that with every epoch of historical progress there arises newer modes of oppression and exploitation. For the workers’ movement, it is of critical importance that it takes cognisance of these changes so as to be able to analyse the actual material contradictions that they face. The growth of cities and the rise of technology as a central element within the general social consciousness surrounding development have created a condition where the growth of platforms has come to mean a massive drive towards homogenisation. Urban marginality under contemporary capitalism creates the grounds for the domination of the market over all the different forces of social cohesion. It has become a space where the marginalised are constantly excluded from rights of equal accessibility. Lefebvre () had argued that industrialisation and urbanisation are two of the most important drivers of contemporary capitalist reality and the reproduction of the capitalist relations of production. Contemporary urban spaces, dominated by the growth of cities, have been a space where profits and growth have been privileged above everything else, which has created urban spaces that are highly segmentary and structurally violent in form. It is popularly believed that free trade benefits the regions with lower rates of development but in actuality, free trade mostly results in richer regions getting richer because of them being already well ahead of their less developed counterparts (Dutt, 1992; Harvey, 2006), resulting in a further concentration of capital.
The conditions faced by migrant gig workers prove that underdeveloped regions rarely have the autonomy required to make adequate usage of technological innovations and mostly depend upon highly developed regions to provide for them (D’Costa, 2003; Sagasti, 1973). In contexts such as these—which have remained unchanged for decades—the mere migration of labour does not mean an improvement in the standards of living for the underdeveloped region, but rather, as Ness (2023) argues, continues to use the underdeveloped regions as extractive sites for cheap labour or raw materials. Under capitalism, migration from underdeveloped regions to developed ones continues to be seen with appreciative eyes because they are seen to be a potential method of destruction of traditional economies, which is seen to be an essential part of capitalist expansion (Parasuraman, 2010). This is particularly evident in contemporary cities which are characterised by a lack of one’s right to the urban space and have been evolved as sites of consumption (Lefebvre, 1996).
5 MIGRANT GIG WORKERS OF INDIA’S CONSUMERIST CITIES
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