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Strategic silences for normative work: Inclusions and exclusions of migrant labour in policy foregrounding of the Swedish gig economy
School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6289-2380
Södertörn University, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies, Environmental Science. Stockholm University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8446-0183
2025 (English)In: Geoforum, ISSN 0016-7185, E-ISSN 1872-9398, Vol. 158, article id 104157Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Migrants constitute a sizable portion of vulnerable workers in digitally-mediated work, particularly in the gigeconomy. They face wide-scale labour exploitation as well as exclusions and further marginalization fromexisting labour markets and welfare systems. Policy intervention is a focal point of debate in the expanding gigeconomy literature. In Nordic countries, it is often assumed the welfare state will regulate the gig economy, butdue to ambiguous understandings of what the gig economy is, debates are focused on topics such as taxation,often downplaying complexities. This study aims to explore how strategic silences towards migration underpinpolicy narratives relating to the foregrounding of gig economy in welfare contexts, specifically Sweden. Ourapproach highlights silence as an agentic and strategic process. Based on twenty-three selected Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU series) issued between 2016 and 2022, we first mapped the main themes regardingthe gig economy in the Swedish policy arena. We show the Swedish state is shifting to recognize migrants and thegig/platform economy, but the role of structural inequalities remains ambiguous. We further critically analyzedcontents of ten reports and show silence is strategic in two ways: first maintaining normative work forms as thekey interest of the state and second, positioning precarious migrant labour as a sphere of exclusion. This study provides new perspectives and insights into the governance of the gig economy by highlighting the role ofstrategic production of silences regarding structural inequalities and the tensions within welfare-labour relations.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2025. Vol. 158, article id 104157
Keywords [en]
Gig economy, Work, Migration, Welfare state, Silence, Critical content analysis, SWOT, Sweden
National Category
Social and Economic Geography Law
Research subject
Politics, Economy and the Organization of Society
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-55769DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104157ISI: 001371448000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85210383046OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-55769DiVA, id: diva2:1917172
Projects
Integration delivered? Unveiling immigrant experiences in the growing Swedish gig economy
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2019-00445Available from: 2024-11-30 Created: 2024-11-30 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved

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Zhang, Qian

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Citation style
  • apa
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  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
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