Silicon Valley technology is transforming the way we work, and Uber is leading the charge. An American startup that promised to deliver entrepreneurship for the masses through its technology, Uber instead built a new template for employment using algorithms and Internet platforms. Upending our understanding of work in the digital age, Uberland paints a future where any of us might be managed by a faceless boss.
The neutral language of technology masks the powerful influence algorithms have across the New Economy. Uberland chronicles the stories of drivers in more than twenty-five cities in the United States and Canada over four years, shedding light on their working conditions and providing a window into how they feel behind the wheel. The book also explores Uber’s outsized influence around the world: the billion-dollar company is now influencing everything from debates about sexual harassment and transportation regulations to racial equality campaigns and labor rights initiatives.
Based on award-winning technology ethnographer Alex Rosenblat’s firsthand experience of riding over 5,000 miles with Uber drivers, daily visits to online forums, and face-to-face discussions with senior Uber employees, Uberland goes beyond the headlines to reveal the complicated politics of popular technologies that are manipulating both workers and consumers.
Alex Rosenblat is a technology ethnographer. A researcher at the Data & Society Research Institute, she holds an MA in sociology from Queen’s University and a BA in history from McGill University. Rosenblat’s writing has appeared in media outlets such as the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, the Atlantic, Slate, and Fast Company. Her research has received attention worldwide and has been covered in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, MIT Technology Review, WIRED, New Scientist, and the Guardian. Many scholarly and professional publications have also published her prizewinning work, including the International Journal of Communication and the Columbia Law Review.
“Alex Rosenblat explores the increasingly unstable and unpredictable nature of work in America through an in-depth look at Uber’s questionable labor and technology practices. We had not fully witnessed the downside of management by algorithm until this book—a must-read for anyone interested in the topic.”—Chris Hughes, cofounder of Facebook, cochair of the Economic Security Project, and author of Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn
“Read Uberland to see how Rosenblat reverse engineers Uber to expose its machinations to become our gig overlord. There is no better analysis anywhere.”—Lawrence Mishel, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute
“Ever wonder what life is like for an Uber driver and where rideshare fits into today’s economy? Rosenblat’s compelling narrative takes us deeper than any book before it, so you’re in for a treat. You won’t be able to put Uberland down.”—H. Luke Shaefer, coauthorof $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America
“Uber represents everything that has gone terribly wrong with Silicon Valley ideology. It treats people as sources of data rather than as customers, workers, or human beings. It flaunts laws and regulations, not even asking for forgiveness once it gets caught. It promotes a toxic corporate environment. Most of all, Uber upends many of our assumptions about transportation, labor, and the future of the economy. Rosenblat has succeeded in writing a clear, powerful book that goes far deeper than the headlines. By focusing on drivers, she reveals the complexities of their daily lives and challenges. She accounts for all the ways Uber both improves their lives and limits their prospects. This book is essential for anyone who hopes to understand platforms, applications, and the effects they have on real people.”—Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) and Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
“Deft, multifaceted, and eminently accessible and readable.”—Michael Palm, author of Technologies of Consumer Labor: A History of Self-Service
296 pp.6 x 9Illus: 15 b/w images, 10 text boxes
9780520324800$19.95|£16.99Paper
Oct 2019