Melting consent: Changes in the labor process under liquid modernity

Michael Burawoy’s Manufacturing Consent remains foundational to labor process theory, but its analysis is rooted in the era of monopoly capitalism. This article extends Burawoy’s framework by examining platform-based food delivery work through an extended case study of DoorDash and Instacart in Greater Boston. We put Burawoy in conversation with Zygmunt Bauman to contrast labor processes under “solid modernity” marked by relative stability with those under “liquid modernity” marked by relative instability. While Burawoy showed how stable shop-floor relations under monopoly capitalism generated worker consent, we argue that today’s platform labor generates a more fluid form. We introduce the concept of melted consent to describe how gig workers are drawn into production through flexible, fleeting, and app-mediated relations. Though less stable, this consent remains effective in securing and obscuring surplus. Our analysis highlights how core dynamics of hegemony persist, albeit in forms reshaped by liquid modernity.