Analysing The Current Situation Of Gig Workers In India Through Marx’s Theory Of Alienation
- IJLLR Journal
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Kaavya Tibrewal, National Law University, Jodhpur
Pratibha Priya, National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
ABSTRACT
Platform-based businesses, including food delivery and quick-commerce services, have made India the fastest-growing gig economy, transforming the principles of modern labour relations on a fundamental basis. Although gig work is depicted as flexible and independent, the everyday experiences of gig workers reveal a form of systemic precarity, exploitation, and a lack of access to basic labour protections, similar to the classic forms of exploitation faced by labourers under a capitalist society. This article examines the state of gig workers in India through Karl Marx’s Theory of Alienation to prove that their situation is not accidental, but rather intrinsic to platform capitalism.
Applying the four dimensions of alienation, it argues that Gig workers are alienated from the products of their labour, as they are subjected to intense algorithmic control and have no autonomy over their work. They are alienated from the process of labour, as shown by the empirical realities of India’s quick-commerce industry. Alienation to species-being is developed on the condition of internalisation of the algorithmic surveillance, wherein human creativity is being replaced by machine-controlled measures. Lastly, legal misclassification supplemented alienation from society through the exclusion of gig workers from substantive social and labour laws.
This article comparatively analyses the standards prescribed by the International Labour Organisation and otherjurisdictions, such as the European Union, Italy and the United Kingdom. They highlight how recognition of these problems can serve as a basis for extending labour protections. It concludes by suggesting a hybrid system of regulation in India that maintains flexibility while ensuring basic labour protections. Along with this, the article strongly vouches for algorithmic transparency and platform accountability. These reforms are vital for restoring workers’ independence, social citizenship and human dignity.
Keywords: Gig Workers, Alienation, Algorithmic Control, Platform, Quick- Commerce.
