We cordially invite you to the second meeting of the seminar series "The Many Faces of Digital Authoritarianism" organized by the ECPR Research Network on Digital Authoritarianism. Dr. Gustavo Robles will discuss "Senses of Freedom. Platform Labor and Ideology in Argentina." You can find below the abstract and short bio of Dr. Robles. The lecture will be held on *March 6, Thursday between 15:30 - 17:00 CET via Zoom.* Topic: ECPR Digital Authoritarianism RN lecture series: Dr. Gustavo Robles Time: Mar 6, 2025 03:30 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna Join Zoom Meeting https://uni-leipzig.zoom-x.de/j/66267638871?pwd=0nsLTE1dO4qzgkszmN4MIpAxAkSA... Meeting ID: 662 6763 8871 Passcode: 576416 Kind regards, Dr. Ülker Sözen Post-doctoral Researcher Chair of Development Politics, University of Passau Institute for the Study of Religion, Leipzig University ------------------- Title: Senses of Freedom. Platform Labor and Ideology in Argentina Abstract: The media-disseminated image of the "Rappi vote" became very popular during the last election campaign in Argentina in 2023 to such an extent that it expanded the common idea of the young workers of the food delivery platforms as the political subject of Javier Milei's electoral success. A myth or not, the starting point of the presentation is that this figure contains an ideological density that allows us to establish relations between the working conditions on the platforms and the libertarian interpellation propelled by Javier Milei and his political party, La Libertad Avanza. Following an approach centred on ideologies, we looked for concrete and practical senses of freedom that could explain the “elective affinities,” to use Weber's acute expression, between the experience of platform work and its resonance with the libertarian understanding of freedom from three perspectives. First, the political-institutional dimension shows how the ideal of freedom has been deployed through global and local processes of institutionalizing labour flexibility, the latest stage of which is represented by various forms of platform labour. Second, the technopolitical dimension exposes the algorithmic management of work as a mechanism of power production in the workplace that constantly requires workers' freedoms for its reproduction through multiple routine decisions. Thirdly, the subjective dimension, given by the experience of platform workers in San Miguel de Tucumán, reveals the practical understanding of freedom and autonomy as a pragmatic way of dealing with the limitations of an authoritarian and depressed labour market. Bio: Gustavo Robles is a Gerda-Henkel Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Passau (Germany) and an Associated Fellow at the National University of Tucumán (Argentina) and within the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counterstrategies (IRGAC). His research and teaching focus on the ideological and subjective dimensions of the current crisis of neoliberalism in the Global South.