Contesting the Digital Economy: Struggles Over Uber in Poland
The Contested Moralities of Markets
ISBN: 978-1-78769-120-9, eISBN: 978-1-78769-119-3
Publication date: 2 September 2019
Abstract
Over the past few years Uber has experienced more controversy than any other digital platform. Looking at the case of Uber in Poland, this chapter distinguishes four arenas in which Uber has been contested: in cities, in public opinion, in the political realm, and in the legal field. Each of these arenas has a different logic and dynamic and also involves different actors and institutions. Nevertheless, the various struggles are connected with each other. Victories and defeats in one spill over into another, providing actors with resources or imposing constraints on them. The author illustrates the connection between various arenas by looking at court cases involving Uber drivers in Poland and shows how those court cases were not only legal events that determined the legality of Uber in Poland but also moral and political events that influenced struggles over legitimacy that were taking place outside the courtroom.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Małgorzata Łukianow for her research assistance. I would especially like to thank the editors of this volume, Simone Schiller-Merkens and Philip Balsiger, as well as Thomas Angeletti, Zofia Boni, and Alice Valiergue for their excellent comments and suggestions on previous drafts. They greatly improved this chapter. This research was supported by the Max Planck Partner Group research grant from the Max Planck Society.
Citation
Serafin, M. (2019), "Contesting the Digital Economy: Struggles Over Uber in Poland", Schiller-Merkens, S. and Balsiger, P. (Ed.) The Contested Moralities of Markets (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 63), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 187-201. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000063018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited