La red sociotécnica de UberEats en Cuenca: un estudio de prácticas socio -materiales

Abstract

This research work identifies the sociomaterial practices that have arisen due to the implementation of the UberEats digital platform in the city of Cuenca. From the epistemological horizon of the Actor Network Theory, we start from a symmetrical position between the agencies of human and non-human entities, to trace their participation in the configuration of the platform, which operates as a sociotechnical network. The design of the Case Study allows us to explore the platform economy, as a contemporary phenomenon that needs to be approached from different theoreticalmethodological perspectives, to open the debate around its problems, many of which are made visible through the selected case. The research is developed within the framework of a sui generis context, due to the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has influenced both the methodological strategies for which digital tools have been combined with classic techniques of the qualitative studies, as in the empirical findings, that show the impact of the pandemic on the practices of the actors involved, among which are: riders, users-consumer, restaurants, etc. The results reveal that technology becomes an actor capable of mobilizing and stabilizing alliances between entities, and ensuring the actantial scheme of humans, through two processes: discipline and infrastructure. Added to this is the development of a discursive framework, the purpose of which is to legitimize certain practices and exclude those factors of the context that cannot be exploited, in favor of enclosing the sociotechnical network in a black box. Faced with this, certain actors challenge the network, generating overflows and producing practices under new frames.