Handbook of Digital Labor

Provides a global perspective on labor and technology, exploring resistance, solidarity, and alternatives in digital capitalism

The Handbook of Digital Labor critically examines how digital technologies are reshaping work and employment around the globe. Bridging historical and contemporary perspectives, this timely volume explores the dynamics of labor within digital capitalism using a critical framework that illuminates the systemic challenges faced by workers across diverse sectors. Dozens of contributing authors address key challenges including surveillance, inequality, and environmental exploitation, while highlighting innovative forms of resistance and organizing.

Organized into four sections—Working-Class Resistance, Digital Capitalism and Alternatives, Laboring under Digital Capitalism, and Theorizing Digital Labor—the Handbook offers a nuanced understanding of how workers navigate the intersection of technological advancement and capitalist development. In-depth chapters cover topics ranging from platform work to AI-driven labor processes—shedding light on the realities of digital labor.

Equipping readers with the tools to critically engage with labor struggles across diverse industries and geographies, the Handbook of Digital Labor:

• Offers interdisciplinary insights from leading scholars in media, communication, labor studies, political economy, as well as unionists, activists, and other on-the-ground practitioners
• Presents both historical and contemporary analyses of labor conditions under digital capitalism
• Advocates for actionable strategies to empower labor movements and build equitable and sustainable alternatives
• Features real-world case studies of worker resistance and solidarity across platforms and industries

Emphasizing both theory and praxis, the Handbook of Digital Labor is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, junior faculty, and researchers in media studies, labor sociology, and public policy. It is a vital resource for courses on digital labor, political economy, and social change within communications and technology programs. Labor organizers, policymakers, and industry professionals will find it an indispensable guide to navigating the complexities of work in the digital age.

JACK LINCHUAN QIU is Chair and Shaw Foundation Professor of Media Technology at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

SHINJOUNG YEO is an Associate Professor at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), and co-founder of the Information Observatory.

RICHARD MAXWELL is a Professor of Media Studies at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY). He specializes in the intersections of technology, labor, and environmental sustainability.