A burgeoning literature is seeking to understand 21st century capitalism from the perspective of work, the working class and class struggle. This ‘workerism’ tradition, historically associated with Italian marxism in the 1960s, starts from the workplace to understand where workers have power and how they can maximise it.

Robert Ovetz is one of those contributing to renewing this tradition of labour research and activism. Ovetz is a lecturer at San Jose State University in California, USA, and is author of ‘When Workers Shot Back: Class conflict from 1877 to 1921’ (2018). He is also editor of the book ‘Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics and Objectives’, published by Pluto at the end of 2020. Ovetz is also assistant editor for an upcoming handbook on the gig economy to be published by Routledge, and is writing a chapter on Proposition 22 in California.

The Gig Economy Project spoke to Ovetz about the book ‘Workers’ inquiry and global class struggle’ and much more in this podcast, which is segmented as follows:

1:49: What is a “workers’ inquiry?”

5:52: The global class struggle today

20:29: Prop-22 and the development of class struggle in the gig economy

28:51: Home-working and the gigification of academic labour

33:53: What demands should workers be making about algorithmic power?

39:54: Class struggle and the pandemic