Symbolic surplus: How recruitment strategies form workers’ social composition and protest in food delivery gig work

While protests in platform labour and especially food delivery have been thoroughly studied, neither the social composition of riders nor their underlying recruitment strategies of platforms have been analysed. The article examines the relationship between recruitment, social composition and collective action for the first time. It is based on two case studies of German food delivery platforms, analysed with a mixed-method research design consisting of interviews, multi-sited ethnography and a survey. Adapting the concept of attraction-selection-attrition cycles, the findings indicate that ensuring sufficient labour is crucial for the platforms, and they therefore use different recruiting strategies. In doing so, they specifically utilise the symbolic surplus of messenger subculture while avoiding its political aspirations. As a result, a distinct group of riders emerges who possess both the interest and the capabilities to initiate collective action. They function as catalysts of collective action; however, they simultaneously impede its institutionalisation.