Forum. In his tribune of November 6, Laurent Wartel, phd candidate in economics at the catholic University of Louvain, developed the idea that “Uber has put in place the dream socialist” in “making the tools of production to the worker” and ” collectivisant the means of production “. For the researcher in management that I am, the thesis appears to be as daring as approximate. In fact, it is based on three major inaccuracies in the organization of platforms, leaving aside the key issues raised by the emergence of this new capitalism platform.
“make” the tool of production to the worker, it is precisely the opposite of collectivism !
First surprise : the author seems to confuse collectivization and the externalization of the means of production. Laurent Wartel says, as well as by making the tool of production to the worker, Uber would deprive the left ” of his ideal collectivist “. Such an assertion is somewhat surprising, because “make” the tool of production to the worker, it is precisely the opposite of collectivism ! It is, instead, a logic of outsourcing to the extreme, which introduces a relationship of commercial contract between the platform and the worker, in a pure vision, financial and market of the organization.
Since the platforms peer-to-peer do not have the productive assets, it is up to the workers to provide the capital necessary to complete the work (in the form of a vehicle to the VTC, a real estate property in the case of Airbnb, etc), left to bear all risks associated with it (accidents, etc). Where is the “collectivization” in there ?
Question
Has the reverse logic of collectivization, platforms, peer-to-peer (type Airbnb or Uber) challenged by the deep business and managerial, and mark according to me a return to the ” domestic system “,…
