Worker Resistance in Digital Capitalism| Algorithmized Not Atomized: The Distributed Solidarity of Jakarta’s Gig Workers

Abstract

This article examines a deeply organized, spatialized, and networked form of gig worker collectivization developed by Jakarta’s mobility-platform drivers (ojol) working for Grab and Gojek. I show how this localized form of “distributed solidarity” emerges from an interaction among preexisting cultures of mutual aid, shared histories of market organization, and platform-driven changes in the market’s spatial imperatives. Focusing on these social, historical, and technological lineages of gig worker solidarity allows us to better understand the distinct forms of worker collectives appearing in different contexts. Thus, I make a case for studying solidarities in their context, paying attention to the new forms that emerge as platform work is domesticated and implicated in local social relations. I conclude with a call to humanize the stories we tell about labor and disruption, making space for diverse and contradictory articulations of collective worker joy, hope, and power.