Advanced study in sociology, with specific topics to be announced at the beginning of each semester.

We all know something about digital platforms, because we use applications like Instagram, Google, and Uber in the course of our daily lives. This seminar will deepen your sociological appreciation for a subset of platforms that are critical to the digital economy: “remote labor platforms.” These platforms are where workers produce data that influence: artificial intelligence, consumer brands, political polls, and the latest psychology research. Students will learn how to be an ethnographer by practicing key skills: being observant participants in the world, writing jottings and fieldnotes, and connecting their experiences to broader themes and theories in sociology. Each week, students will spend at least 2 hours earning money on remote labor platforms (i.e. Amazon Mechanical Turk, Prolific, and InboxDollars). Students will write 10 fieldnotes (2-5 page detailed reflections) about their experiences of work, building up the depth and breadth of their insights over time. Through weekly readings and in-class discussions, we will analyze students’ experiences of work through sociological lenses. We will examine and apply key concepts in the sociology of work and platform studies: control, dependence, inequality, identity, and work games. Over the course of the semester, and with support from the instructor and classroom community, each student will creatively transform their own fieldnotes into a final paper. We will curate these papers, and make them digitally accessible to researchers, media outlets, and platform companies. Our collective archive will increase awareness about diverse experiences of work, which can influence future research and policies. By becoming ethnographers of platform work, students will also be able to reflect on their identities, including the meaning of work, consumption, and digital devices in their lives.

During Phase 1, students are unable to directly enroll or wait-list into the Sociology 190 Capstone Seminars via Cal Central. Instead, students must fill out a SOC 190 Placement Request Form - https://berkeley.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyr4UgmPlbelV7U (Available October 6 - December 6, 2024)

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills