‘Freelancers must be able to put up with all types of clients’: Affective labour and precarious subjectivities in remote platform work

While the gig economy is widely associated with increasing precariousness, previous studies have mostly focused on structural working conditions rather than diverse subjective experiences, treating platform work as a homogenous phenomenon. However, what gig work means for workers varies widely, depending on local contexts and types of work. In this paper, I draw on concepts of affective labour and intersectionality to study the everyday practices of freelance designers who are based in India and connect to overseas clients via digital freelance platforms. Using methods from digital ethnography, I ask: How do remote freelancers negotiate dimensions of difference as they work on forging connections with clients through digital platforms? I find that digital freelancers negotiate intersectional identities as they relate to others, adapting what they share about themselves online. Being ‘Indian’ emerges as a central but ambiguous dimension of social difference, which is negotiated along the lines of five axes of differentiation: work ethic and skill, economic value, language, time and visuality and aesthetics. By tracing how affective labour is part of processes of subjectification and differentiation, I aim to contribute to intersectional, process-based perspectives on precarious platform-mediated work.