Abstract
The platform economy is booming worldwide. As the highlight of China’s economy, the platform economy, undergirded by both hi-tech and cheap laborers, reached 7.1 trillion US dollars as of 2023. The platform economy provides great convenience for people’s lives and creates millions of jobs. Yet, it has exposed systemic flaws, especially for delivery workers, who are trapped in the control and manipulation of algorithms while lacking basic social security. The boundaries between the platform and the laborers need bridging. On April 21, 2025, JD.com, one of the largest retail platform giants in China, sparked widespread discussions when its founder, Liu Qiangdong, personally delivered food and promised to provide social security for full-time food delivery workers. Liu’s move came as a direct challenge to the dominant position of its major rival, Meituan, in China’s food delivery market. Behind this incident lies the public’s dissatisfaction with the latter’s long-term exploitation of food delivery riders and the excessive commissions charged to merchants. Using qualitative analysis method, this research refers to Liu’s public “one-man show” to highlight the tension between China’s job-creating, profit-making, labor-intensive platform economy and growing calls to protect laborers’ rights in the digital age of contemporary China. Herbert Marcuse’s theories of “surplus repression” and “performance principle” shed new light in the context of China. Discussions on the mechanism control of laborers, the gig economy, and platform-based industries in China would certainly provide insights for emerging economies in other aspects, such as bridging platforms and the boundaries of laborers.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
China, Platform Economy, Herbert Marcuse, Laborers’ Rights
