The Gig Economy and the Erosion of Worker Identity: A Sociological Study of Precarious Labor

Abstract

This sociological study examines how the expansion of gig economy employment fundamentally alters worker identity formation and the meaning of work in contemporary society. Through analysis of platform-mediated labor arrangements, this research demonstrates how gig work creates new forms of precarity that erode traditional occupational identities while failing to provide adequate substitutes. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 45 gig workers across multiple platforms and secondary analysis of labor market data, findings reveal that gig work fragments worker identity through temporal discontinuity, spatial isolation, and algorithmic mediation of labor relations. The study argues that the gig economy represents a qualitative shift in employment relations that undermines the social and psychological foundations of worker solidarity and collective identity. These changes have profound implications for labor organizing, social policy, and individual well-being. The research contributes to understanding how platform capitalism reshapes not only economic relations but also the fundamental social categories through which workers understand themselves and their place in society.