Actions in phygital space: work solidarity and collective action among app-based cab drivers in India

Abstract

This study delineates the microprocesses of solidarity development and the subsequent collective actions of gig workers in India amidst multiple structural constraints. Using netnography, semi-structured interviews and direct observation, we show how digitally naive app-based cab drivers amalgamate physical and digital spaces, construct a phygital space free of managerial gaze and leverage it to bond and bridge, create webs of care and share and resist multiple oppressive forces, individually and collectively. Thus, we broaden the conceptualisation of worker agency beyond labour-management antagonism and extend the extant literature on solidarity development and resistance in gig work by identifying a spatial enabler, phygital free space and the expansive role of relationship-based commitment. Relationship-based commitment not only functions as a membership mobiliser but also helps mobilise collective resistance when interwoven with an external threat-based identity created through injustice framing.