INCA team at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology
From July 6 to 11, the INCA team participated in the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology held in Rabat, Morocco. The conference aimed to encourage reflection on the theme of “Knowing Justice in the Anthropocene” through a robust exchange of academic ideas and public engagement.
On 10 July, our researchers contributed to this goal through the session ‘Infrastructural Power of GAFAM and Worker Power in the Platform Economy’. Organised by Adam Mrozowicki from the University of Wroclaw and moderated by Dora Fonseca from CoLABOR, the session featured two presentations by the INCA team.
On the one hand, the paper by Franco Tomassoni and Sara Nunes from CoLABOR was entitled ‘David Versus Goliath: Power Resources and Collective Action in the Context of GAFAM’s Outsourcing Practices in Portugal’. It consists of an analysis, based on case studies of Apple and Facebook, that highlights how unions and workers can respond to the growing power of GAFAM through collective action and strategic innovation.
On the other hand, Adam Mrozowicki, Olga Gitkiwicz and Szymon Pilch from the University of Wroclaw and Mattia Frapporti and Maurilio Pirone from the University of Bologna jointly presented a paper entitled ‘Contested Amazonification: Comparing Amazon Workers’ Struggles in Italy and Poland’. It examines the conditions, forms and consequences of the struggles of Amazon workers and their ecosystem of subcontractors in Poland and Italy, combining the inspirations of the power resources approach with the literature on the infrastructural power of large tech companies.
Both presentations were successful. INCA researchers received good and constructive feedback, and the session was well-received!
(To view the abstracts of the presentations, click on the titles of the papers.)
