Abstract:

Over the past 40 years, capitalism has become more complex, reconfigured, and outsourced. A faceless capitalism, i.e., platform capitalism, has appeared. Digital work means a “new spirit of wage-earning, ” which is in line with the new spirit of capitalism by exacerbating the intensity of hegemonic local and global work regimes. New social inequalities are produced in the production of cyber-proletariats, cyber upper-classes, and cyber middle classes. Individuals are caught in double-bind situations between heteronomy and autonomy at work in a context of emotional capitalism. In the digital economy, the compressed individuals have internalized the injunction to face economic constraints and produce a narrative of self-optimization/performing self in a global society. The compressed individuals are more and more globalized in international digital economies.

Key words: digital work, labor regimes, emotional capitalism, performing self, compressed individuals