Italian food couriers build solidarity through informal collectives and a politicized class identity

Evidence

In all four of the cities we investigated, the development of an identity framing was influenced by the political tradition of precarious workers’ self-organization, favoring the emergence of informal collectives as the privileged organizational form among food delivery couriers (Cini et al. 2021). As we found out, the persistence of this practice was key for the process of identity framing, along with the related presence of experienced political activists helping the most committed couriers to organize their colleagues. Such a framing strategy indicated the development of a very political identity among couriers, designed to present such workers as part of a broader class of the exploited: “we, the couriers” as opposed to “them, the capitalist platforms.” — Donatella della Porta et al., Mobilizing Against the Odds, 71

Categorization

• XREF: Directly evidences the reader’s central question about whether platform work re-aggregates workers into cross-sector solidarity, contrasting with the employer-specific Amazon frame. — connects to: Italian food couriers organized through self-made informal unions, not established ones. — Donatella della Porta et al., Mobilizing Against the Odds: Solidarity…, 62; Physical co-presence in shared urban spaces enables worker solidarity among food couriers. — Donatella della Porta et al., Mobilizing Against the Odds: Solidarity…, 64; Shared identity in crowds produces solidarity and expected mutual support. — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 104 (+10 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies what a ‘very political identity framing’ concretely looks like (we-the-couriers versus them-the-capitalist-platforms) as opposed to a narrow official-employer grievance frame.

Broader Connections

• Politicized collective identity requires shared grievances, adversarial attributions, and societal involvement #expands (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4390
• Sharing feelings of misery and attributing them to impersonal structures builds collective political subjectivity #expands (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1885
• Sector differences shape whether platform workers adopt narrow or broad solidarity identities #qualifies (0.78) — Donatella della Porta et al., Mobilizing Against the Odds, 10
• Class solidarity, not individual self-interest, structures ideological thinking #corroborates (0.76) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 375
• Shared identity in crowds produces solidarity and expected mutual support. #corroborates (0.75) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 104
• Easy individual mobility weakens subordinate-group solidarity and collective action #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2747
• Collective identity and shared grievances reinforce each other bidirectionally #expands (0.74) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4428
• Formal similarity of social position creates solidarity regardless of personal character #expands (0.73) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 595
• Shared identity turns crowds from irrational mobs into solidarity-based adaptive resources #corroborates (0.72) — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 164
• Identity politics needs supplementing by wider solidarity-directed struggles #complicates (0.71)
• De-industrialisation fragmented labour and replaced class struggle with identity politics #complicates (0.70) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 672