GIG ECONOMY AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: FROM THE PEDAGOGY OF WORK TO A PEDAGOGY OF PLATFORM WORK

from the pedagogy of work to a pedagogy of platform work

Abstract

The gig economy has become a key site through which labor transformation in the European Union is being experienced, regulated, and contested. While most existing analyses focus on employment classification, social protection, and the governance of digital platforms, less attention has been paid to the pedagogical implications of platformized labor. This article addresses that gap by arguing that the gig economy must be interpreted not only as a legal or economic phenomenon, but also as a transformation in the educational, cultural, and subjective meaning of work.

The study aims to rethink the pedagogy of work in light of platform precarity and digital mediation, advancing the concept of a pedagogy of platform work. Methodologically, the article adopts a theoretical-conceptual approach grounded in a critical and interdisciplinary review of the literature on pedagogy of work, platform labor, algorithmic management, and labor transformation in the European context. Its central argument unfolds in four steps: first, it shows that the classical “crisis of work” has evolved into a more specific condition of platformization; second, it interprets digital platforms as pedagogical environments that shape conduct, self-regulation, and worker subjectivity; third, it re-reads Bauman, Rifkin, and Méda as complementary lenses for understanding instability, technological mediation, and the changing social meaning of work; and fourth, it outlines a normative proposal for a pedagogy of platform work centered on rights-awareness, critical digital literacy, solidarity, democratic participation, and person-centered attention to vulnerability.

The article’s original contribution lies in connecting labor studies and pedagogy in order to show that the European gig economy is not only reorganizing work, but also redefining the forms of formation required to inhabit, interpret, and contest platform capitalism.