THE GIG ECONOMY AND DIGITAL PRECARITY: A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF LABOR RESISTANCE IN SOUTH ASIA

Abstract

The gig economy has rapidly transformed labor markets across South Asia, positioning itself as a solution to youth unemployment, underemployment, and informal sector stagnation. Characterized by flexible, on-demand work mediated by digital platforms such as Uber, Careem, Swiggy, Foodpanda, and Upwork, this new model of employment is celebrated by policymakers and corporations as a vehicle for entrepreneurship and empowerment. However, beneath this façade lies an intensifying crisis of digital precarity—marked by low wages, algorithmic management, lack of collective bargaining rights, and the absence of social security. This paper investigates labor resistance within this context, using Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and counter-hegemony to critically examine how platform capitalism sustains itself through ideological consent and how workers challenge it through digital and analog forms of resistance.

Drawing on qualitative data from media reports, policy documents, civil society publications, and grassroots worker testimonies from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, this research explores the nature, scope, and limitations of labor resistance in the gig economy. It highlights how the neoliberal narrative of flexibility conceals power asymmetries while simultaneously limiting traditional unionization. Yet, emerging strategies—ranging from WhatsApp-based strike coordination to digital unions and online petitions—are revealing new forms of counter-hegemonic struggle grounded in worker solidarity, class consciousness, and digital literacy. The paper argues that while the gig economy represents a reconfiguration of labor relations in the digital age, it is not immune to organized dissent. Gramsci’s conceptual tools allow us to understand not only how platform capitalism maintains ideological dominance but also how resistance is being articulated by marginalized labor groups. In doing so, the study contributes to debates on labor precarity, platform governance, and the future of work in the Global South. It calls for rethinking regulatory frameworks and supporting digital labor movements as legitimate actors in shaping equitable labor futures.

Keywords:
Gig economy; digital precarity; labor resistance; South Asia; Gramscian theory; hegemony; counter-hegemony; platform capitalism; worker mobilization; algorithmic control