Emancipatory agency and rebalancing of power in algorithmic systems – a Simondonian perspective

Drawing on a 16-month ethnographic study at a global marine engine company, this paper investigates how mechanics’ autonomy and workplace power relations are shaped when labor is mediated by algorithmic management systems (AMS). Can workers’ engagement with AMS generate emancipatory forms of agency not fully subsumed under managerial goals? Mobilizing Simondon’s perspective on technology, the paper examines the mechanics’ capacity to act through AMS and shows how aspects of this engagement become partially decoupled from organizational ends. The findings highlight the dual character of algorithmic technologies: as instruments of organizational control and, simultaneously, as sites of potential emancipatory agency for workers.