Plataformização do trabalho doméstico: uma análise do processo de (des)valorização das diaristas na plataforma Parafuzo

Abstract

The following research paper aims to analyses the effects of platform of housework through the study of the Parafuzo platform. The choice of object came from the problem of understanding the novelty of digital platforms for traditionally informal jobs, historically subject to the worst labor conditions. As means of setting a framework of theoretical references, a bibliographical research on the appearance of digital platforms for service providing and the general changes it brought about in labor relations was conducted. The argument states that these platforms play a major role in the current digital economy, throughout many economic sectors, which is why they implement different strategies for the appropriation of surplus Value, be it with regards to income distribution and labor exploitation. The proposed view of said platforms looks through the concept of primitive accumulation, for their capacity to obtain expansion of capital through the commodification of hitherto uncommodified spaces. Regarding labor organization, the appearance of digital platforms is understood as a general phenomenon which impacts unevenly and combined the whole of working class. Also, uberization which corresponds to a specific type of digital service platform that implements a transference of costs and risks to the users and at the same time holds a rigid control over the rules for the execution of the services, based on human labor. For its characteristics, it is argued that uberization affects in a special way jobs that are informal and poorly paid and makes the inclusion of new sectors to the direct surplus value production circuit. In that sense, considering the historical trajectory of domestic work in Brazil, it is argued that the novelty of digital platforms in that sector of economy consists in its transformation from labor to a service provided by capitalists. In order to observe how this process occurs in reality, a documentary research is carried out on the Parafuzo platform through the analysis of documents, newspaper articles, lawsuits, the Terms of Use and complaints from users and workers on the Reclame Aqui website, which aggregates reviews for businesses. It is demonstrated that the company Parafuzo represents an expansion of capital over traditional domestic work by introducing female workers into labor exploitation, charging fees and financial expropriation. It is also demonstrated that Parafuzo imposes a profound change in existing work relations through the standardization of tasks, work discipline, subordinate self-management, and formalization and ensuing worsening of race and gender vulnerability.