Digital togetherness as everyday resistance: The use of new media in addressing work exploitation in rural areas

The literature on spatial-temporal barriers shows that temporary migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation and has concentrated on how they utilize new media to address underpayment and exploitation. These studies, however, have left unexplored the agency, temporality, and spatial consideration...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNew media & society Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 1851 - 1870
Main Author Li, Yao-Tai
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2024
Subjects
everyday resistance
new media
Australia
temporary migrant worker
digital togetherness
imagined others
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Summary:The literature on spatial-temporal barriers shows that temporary migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation and has concentrated on how they utilize new media to address underpayment and exploitation. These studies, however, have left unexplored the agency, temporality, and spatial considerations that underpin why workers prefer to activate “informal” mechanisms of complaint rather than accessing “formal” channels of redress, such as the Fair Work Ombudsman or labor unions. Using Working Holiday Makers in Australia as an example, this article focuses on digital togetherness generated through new media. I argue that digital interactions on new media platforms not only change the spatial-temporal limit of temporary migrant workers, but also create digital togetherness and connect workers with different imagined others (customers, arriving migrant workers, and workers who are facing exploitation). This connection can become an everyday resistance strategy, a remedy to space–time limits, and potentially challenge asymmetrical power relations between workers and employers.
ISSN:1461-4448
1461-7315
DOI:10.1177/14614448221080717