{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title":"Migrant Labour in the Gig Economy The Intersection of Migrant Labour, Platform Capitalism, and Resistance","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9783031912610","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","id":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","uuid":"ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title":"Migrant Labour in the Gig Economy The Intersection of Migrant Labour, Platform Capitalism, and Resistance","normalized_title":"migrantlabourinthegigeconomytheintersectionofmigrantlabourplatformcapitalismandresistance","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9783031912610","isbns":["9783031912610","9783031912627"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":270,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Migrant%20Labour%20in%20the%20Gig%20Economy%20The%20Intersection%20of%20Migrant%20Labour%2C%20Platform%20Capitalism%2C%20and%20Resistance","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/ce325a04-5bc9-4819-a776-439d90410b32/search"},"page":{"printed_page":214,"pdf_page":223,"physical_index":223,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"837ec4dd590c7bd5f35c17f89e595fd81b745cde1a12d1f2fd174cac32348d22"},"chapter":"Dynamics ofVirtual Work","content":"An important aspect of migrant workers’ masculinity crisis concerned their gendered family role as men, which they defined, in line with the hegemonic gendered norm in China, as the ability to adequately provide for his family, support their children and parents, and bring the family a better future (Choi & Peng, 2016). Economic restructuring in recent years increasingly challenged their ability to fulfil this role, notably by destabilizing their jobs and rendering their skills obsolete. Didi and Meituan, thanks to their relatively large space of profit, open employment relations design, and its quasi piece-rate payment system, allowed migrant workers to resolve this masculinity crisis by working as hard as they can.\n\nLaowang told me that his wife used to work in Shenzhen. In 2015, his wife went back to He’nan to take care of their children and the elderly. Since then, his pressure to bring home an adequate wage had been rising, especially as his salary became unstable while life costs soared. For him, Didi provided a solution to this pressure. Despite his serious back pain, he worked on average 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. As he explained,\n\nWe do not want our kids to become gangsters … my father is ill in bed … as a man, my responsibility is to earn more money, keep them fed, support their education and get them treated. Costs go up every year, but my salaries do not. I must do something … back pain is no big deal … Did is for me a practical choice. Taxi in Shenzhen is more expensive than in He’nan so you can earn more. And at Didi, the more you work, the more you earn. As long as you work hard, you get well paid.\n\nIn my post-pandemic visit to Shenzhen and Dongguan, among both drivers and riders at both the centre and the periphery, a new term frequently invoked by them to describe their work is that of “aoshijian”, waiting it out. Many told me that the rate per task declined significantly after the pandemic, as more and more people became unemployed when the much-anticipated post-pandemic economic recovery did not materialize after measures of pandemic control almost put the economy to a halt. Having spent most of their savings, changes in post-pandemic Chinese economy only reinforce their gendered reliance on platform work. A’xiong and his wife lived in Shenzhen in a rented flat with their two children, both studying in a local middle school. Before the pandemic, he worked only during the morning, evening and night peaks to exploit the higher price to balance higher income with enough rest. But in post-pandemic times, this was no longer possible, and his working hours increased from 10 to 15. Recently, he was diagnosed with prostatitis and sexual dysfunction, which were popular among drivers. When asked if he was worried about his health and conjugal harmony, he became emotional:\n\n214\n\nY. ZHOU","previous_page":213,"next_page":215}