Faculty in the news - Gig workers aren't self employed
On March 23, 2022, an article written by Professor Geraint Harvey, DANCAP Private Equity Chair in Human Organization and colleagues was featured in The Conversation entitled: "Gig workers aren't self-employed - they're modern-day feudal serfs"
Excerpt from The Conversation:
"To understand neo-villeiny, we first need to understand medieval villeiny. The villeins of medieval Europe were a type of serf (a tenant farmer) that were bonded to a landlord they paid rent to, and for whom they carried out additional work.
Feudalism has been replaced by capitalism, and a new villeiny — or neo-villeiny — has emerged to reflect the relationship between a worker and an organization, in which the latter benefits far more than the former.
Neo-villeiny still has the core characteristics of medieval villeiny, but instead of the feudal relationship between the landlord and the villein, neo-villeiny describes the relationship between “self-employed” workers and the larger corporations they work for.
Neo-villeiny is a term that has been used to describe the work of self-employed personal trainers in the fitness industry and has more recently been applied to work in other sectors, such as civil aviation."
Continue reading on The Conversation
