A experiência negra de ranqueamento social na Uber: uma reflexão racializada da vigilância contemporânea

Abstract

The object of this research is the experience of the social ranking of black users and drivers of Uber. The focus is on the experience of black users and drivers in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the company's evaluation system, observing how it appears in the contemporary logic of surveillance. Based on discussions and observations carried out in exploratory research, the study asks: in Uber's environment, with data surveillance mechanisms in operation, how are blacks experiencing the social ranking logic? Cartography was the methodology chosen for the study, considering the possibility of monitoring processes and its commitment to experimentation, with flexible data production procedures, as well as its research-intervention nature. Thus, the main objective of the research is to investigate this experience in order to map the characteristics of contemporary surveillance and among the specific objectives are to have an analysis mostly of racialized intellectuals and to expand the analysis of contemporary surveillance also with a racialized cut. The theoretical framework of the research will go through three axes: surveillance studies and decolonial theories, also going through the Actor- Network Theory. Among the authors that appear as main theoretical references are Michel Foucault, Fernanda Bruno, Silvio Almeida, Bruno Latour, Achille Mbembe, Simone Browne and Ruha Benjamin. The main findings of the survey were that 56% of the 43 respondents with the survey questionnaire perceive the impact of their ethnic-racial origins on the grade built within Uber's rating system and also on their experiences on the platform. These experiences were systematized in the following categories: a) Ethnic criminalization; b) Veiled racism; c) Widespread racism and d) Maintenance of subalternity. Another observation was also the finding that the evaluation system, the biometric validation of users and drivers and the company's comprehensive database were built by human and non-human elements, and in this interaction, there is the construction and reinforcement of new forms of racial oppression, which calls into question the idea of technological neutrality. Finally, conceptualizing a Ranking Society, which emerges within the context of services and products increasingly on digital platforms, is an important contribution of the study.