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Heteromation and micro-work in Brazil

Abstract

In the heteromation paradigm of work, the changes brought about by the computerization of the economy lead to a significant mass of workers performing essential but marginal activities. The objective of this study is to analyze the different forms of heteromatized remunerated microwork available in the national territory, in order to clarify the conditions and specificities of the Brazilian labor context. To do so, first a survey and description of microtask crowdworks in operation in Brazil was carried out. Then, using the netnographic method, we joined 22 Facebook and WhatsApp groups focused on this market (which totaled a base of around 16 thousand registered profiles) and followed them for seven months. Findings suggest that Brazil has an important part of the world’s reserve of micro-work labor and that we are not facing an isolated, monolithic and homogeneous scenario. Micro-work is imbricated in new ways of extracting value from the platformization of work and must be understood in the midst of global production chains, where working conditions are polysemic, asymmetric and mainly governed by global North countries.

Keywords
heteromation; platformization of labor; micro-work; piece work

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