Why does class resentment not transform into political action? A study of the food delivery workers’ affective dispositions in Rīga

With digital economy on the rise, there is a growing concern about the poor working conditions of platform workers around the world. While elsewhere in Europe, platform workers have organised strikes, protests and boycotts, in Latvia, growing class resentment has not resulted in any political action. Based on a qualitative study of food delivery workers in Rīga, we find an explanation for this lack of political action in affective dispositions of the workers. We argue that the class resentment has not been mobilised due to several interrelated emotional factors: low social trust in fellow workers, unions and platforms; neoliberal feeling rules of individual responsibility rooted in post-Soviet neoliberalisation; and the affective dispositions couriers hold about themselves, such as low self-confidence, and related shame and fear of disconnection. These emotions silence leadership and any efforts to organise, even if mobilisation is seen as rationally beneficial. Our analysis contributes to studies of platform workers’ mobilisation and the literature on the affective basis of class action by demonstrating how emotional factors can stifle political activism even in the presence of strong class resentment.