The Everyday (In)visibility of Ride-hailing Platform drivers: Understanding Gig Informality in the Urban Space of Chandigarh Capital Region, India

Abstract

The shift from a market-based society to a platform-driven society is a complex and contested socio-spatial process. My dissertation examines the intricacies of this shift- the everyday contestations surrounding platformization, with particular emphasis on the socio-spatial dynamics affecting ride-hailing platform drivers in the Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) of India. Urban space is central to reproducing power structures and producing varied experiences among ride hailing platform drivers. In this study by examining small-scale geographies and micro-processes, I attempt to bring together technology, labour, and urban space to demonstrate how new digital processes are reshaping the daily lived and embodied experiences of ride-hailing platform drivers in the urban landscape. Additionally, the research aims to explore how these gig drivers co produce urban space. The central objective of this dissertation is to understand the transforming notions of ‘labour’, ‘precarity,’ ‘gender’, and ‘socialities of the work experience’. Through this thesis, I aim to bring to the fore the voice of ‘platform labour’ in the public discourse as valuable contributions to knowledge production and further emphasise the embedding of gig platforms in the regulatory framework of society perceiving gig work to be the future of work. To delve into the lives of ride-hailing platform drivers, the dissertation draws on multiple qualitative data sources including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, WhatsApp chat messages, field notes, letters, and newspaper archives. The research moves fluidly between physical and virtual spaces, acknowledging that the lives of these workers cannot be fully understood without considering how digital technologies intersect with their physical realities. Therefore, by engaging with interdisciplinary work in labour geography, urban studies and digital labour, the thesis provides a critical framework for understanding urban socio-spatial relations with particular attention to transformations connected to the rise of the gig platform economy. The study reveals that existing relations of precarity are ‘invisibilized’ even as they extend onto the platform economy while highlighting the social lives of ride-hailing drivers, which play a crucial role in their resilience and adaptability within the gig economy. The study also highlights the gendered relations that unfold in a city through ride-hailing platforms.