Enabling Exploitation: Law in the Gig Economy

This article describes the almost total failure of legal systems to criminalize, regulate or restrict the crimes of capitalism and its institutions in the “uber/gig” economy. It examines how the technologically-enabled theft of time, space and wages from employees has been normalized and even celebrated. These unregulated excesses have exacerbated political, cultural and economic inequality and threatened or destroyed quality of life for millions. To understand why and how these harmful practices have attracted so little regulatory or criminal attention, the article examines how neoliberal capitalism, in its constant search for new ways to outsource costs and maximize profits, intersects with the democratic state and its professed obligation to prevent capital from “going too far” at the expense of citizens of that state.