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Platformization of precarity: The political economy of gig work in Russia
This chapter offers a critical examination of the gig economy and platform labor in contemporary Russia, with a particular focus on persistent and evolving forms of precarity. It introduces the concept of the platformization of precarity to capture two defining features of the early development of the gig economy in the Russian context. First, the emergence and rapid expansion of labor platforms occurred within a labor market already characterized by widespread precarious employment, especially in the informal sector. Second, rather than improving working conditions, the process of platformization has largely served to digitize, formalize, and institutionalize pre-existing forms of precarious gig work. This trajectory reflects a deliberate strategy on the part of the Russian state, which has relied on major platforms to bring gig labor out of the shadows while largely neglecting the social vulnerabilities of platform workers and constraining their collective agency. The chapter demonstrates how the interaction of structural conditions, social forces, and state policy shapes the gig economy in Russia through the construction of legal frameworks and the production of public discourse. As a polemical contribution, the chapter also seeks to stimulate debate on broader models of platform capitalism in Russia and beyond.