"...you realize how you can use the app and not let the app use you." The Moral Universe of Latin American Delivery RidersLisa Herzog

18 December 2025

Lisa Herzog (University of Groningen), 17:15 - 18:45, presents her project in the Interdisciplinary Research Seminar of the GRK "Collective Decision-Making”.

Location: Room 0079, Von-Melle-Park 5

Abstract

(Agustin Prestifilippo and Lisa Herzog)

Algorithmically managed platform labor transforms the organization of employment, but the lived experience of this emerging form of labor has not yet received much attention in the philosophy of work. This article explores how delivery riders in Buenos Aires experience this form of employment. Based on qualitative research, it explores two dimensions of the riders’ perspective: to whom they ascribe agency and responsibility, and whether they see spaces for deliberation in the context of their work. We show, in particular, how their ascriptions of responsibility for structural problems often focuses on customers, while the company disappears behind the technical affordance of the app, and how the organizational model of platform work minimizes opportunities for deliberation. Based on a perspective of structural injustice, our discussion sheds light on the interplay between subjective experiences and the broader structural forces shaping contemporary labor markets.

Find the abstract as PDF here.