Ambivalent affects in the platform assemblage: perspectives from the food delivery sector

The affective aspects of platform labour emerging in the interactions between workers, platforms, service buyers, managers and the surrounding society have been overlooked in the platform labour literature. Situating platform labour in a framework of the platform assemblage and drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation with migrant platform workers in Finland, the article analyses the affective relations which both emerge from the specific power dynamics of the platforms and contribute to shaping the labour power active on digital labour platforms. By framing affect as a device to critically approach power relations, the article contributes to sharpening the understanding of the forms of command and resistance engendered in platform capitalism, and the dynamics through which the platform labour power composition is shaped.