Valentin Niebler
- Department of Integration, Social Networks and Cultural Lifestyles
valentin.niebler (at) hu-berlin.de
Profile
Valentin Niebler is a doctoral researcher at the Institute for European Ethnology at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is an affiliated member of BIM. His dissertation explores the class-making practices of migrant tech workers in Berlin.
Previously, he was a research associate in the EU Horizon 2020 project Platform Labor in Urban Spaces (PLUS), which investigated the impact of the expansion of digital platforms on labour in urban spaces. He has also worked at the Centre for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University Lüneburg, for the project 'Trade Unions in Transition 4.0' of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and in a cooperation with the Fairwork Foundation. He studied social sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Würzburg and the New School for Social Research, New York.
Supervisors
- Manuela Bojadžijev, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
- Sandro Mezzadra, Università di Bologna
Funding: Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation (since 10/2022)
Academic Publications
- 2024: ‘What damage could a small breeze do to a fence?’ The lack of collective action on ride-hailing platforms in Berlin and Tallinn. In: Economic and Industrial Democracy (with Stefania Animento, Kairit Kall, Marge Unt, Triin Roosalu and Liis Ojamäe)
- 2024: Latent Conflict, Invisible Organisation: Everyday Struggles in Platform Labour. In: Mezzadra, S., Cuppini, N., Frapporti, M., Pirone, M. (eds) Capitalism in the Platform Age. Springer Studies in Alternative Economics. Springer, Cham. (with Moritz Altenried)
- 2023: Organising fragmented labor: the case of Helpling workers in Berlin. In: The Economic and Labour Relations Review. 34(4): 689-706. (with Stefania Animento)
- 2023: Transcending Borders? Horizons and Challenges of Global Tech Worker Solidarity. In: Journal of Political Sociology 1 (2).
- 2023: Coalitional Power in the Digital Economy: Alliances of Gig and Tech Workers. In: Trajectories of platform capitalism and platform work (Special Issue). Friedrich-Ebert Foundation
- 2023: Spekulative Konflikte: Zum Verhältnis zwischen Arbeitskämpfen und Finanzmärkten in der Digitalökonomie. In: Martin Oppelt / Falko Blumenthal: Digitalisierung von Gegenmacht. Gewerkschaftliche Konfliktfähigkeit und Arbeitskampf heute. Bielefeld: transcript (with Franziska Cooiman)
- 2023: Der Fragmentierung begegnen: Zur Organisierung migrantischer Reinigungskräfte in der Plattformökonomie. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung: WSI-Mitteilungen 4/2023, p. 252-260 (with Moritz Altenried and Stefania Animento)
- 2023: Towards ‘Bogus Employment’? The Contradictory Outcomes of Ride-Hailing Regulation in Berlin, Lisbon and Paris. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 16, Issue 2, July 2023, p. 289–301 (with Giorgio Pirina, Michelangelo Secchi, Franco Tomassoni)
- 2022: Fragmentierte Arbeit, verallgemeinerter Konflikt: Alltägliche Auseinandersetzungen in der Plattformarbeit. In: Heiland, H.; Schaupp S. (2022): Widerstand im Arbeitsprozess. Bielefeld: Transcript (with Moritz Altenried)
- 2021: Öffentliche Mobilitätsplattformen. Digitale Strategien für eine sozial-ökologische Mobilitätswende. Institut für Gesellschaftsanalyse, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (with Dominik Piétron and Anouk Ruhaak)
- 2020: YouTubers unite: collective action by YouTube content creators. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research.
- 2020: Platform Labour: Contingent Histories and New Technologies. Soft Power Journal Revista euro-americana de teorìa e historia de la politica y del derecho. Issue 1 (7,1) – January-June 2020 (with Moritz Altenried and Jude Macannuco)
- 2020: Organising YouTube. A novel case of worker organizing. Trade Unions in Transition 4.0. Paper by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (with Annemarie Kern)
Selected Talks
- 2024: It's like Uber, but for Care? Wie sich Vermittlung durch digitale Plattformen auf Care-Arbeit auswirkt. re:publica 2024, Berlin.
- 2024: Unusual Suspects: Migration and White-Collar Conflict in Berlin's Tech Industry. 42nd International Labour Process Conference, Universität Göttingen
- 2023: Within and against: tech workers, migration and labor alliances in Berlin. Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, Graduate Center at City University of New York (CUNY).
- 2023: Tackling 'Rule and Divide': Alliances of Gig and Tech Workers. Conference 'Global Perspectives on Platforms, Labor and Social Reproduction', University of Amsterdam
- 2023: Beyond Fragmentation: Cross-Status Alliances in Tech. Department of the Arts, University of Bologna
- 2023: Joint Forces? Coalition-Building against Tech Corporations. Panel "Circulation Obsession – Following the Flows and Flaws of Big Tech’s Urban Logistical Infrastructures", STS Hub Aachen
- 2022: Coalitional Power in Digital Capitalism: Alliances of Gig and Tech Workers SASE Conference 2022, University of Amsterdam
- 2021: Gewerkschaften im Wandel 4.0 – Neue Machtressourcen für die digitale Arbeitswelt, Konferenz Digitaler Kapitalismus 2021, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (with Victoria Basualdo, Mirko Herberg, Yonatan Miller and Stefan Schmalz)
- 2021: Digital Infrastructures between Exploitation and Empowerment. Re:Coding Lab, Universität Kassel
- 2021: Platforms, Social Reproduction and Migration – The Case of Helpling in Berlin. PLUS TALKS, Gender and Platform Labour 2: The platformisation of paid care, cleaning and domestic work. Online Webinar (with Moritz Altenried)
- 2021: Evade, Deceive, Unite: Worker Power through Costumer Coalitions on Digital Platforms, Politics and Ethics of Platform Labour: Learning from Lived Experiences. Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge
- 2021: Organizing Youtube: Collective Action on the Platform, Panel Collective Action, Organising and Mobilisations in the Platform Economy. IV ISA Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre (with Annemarie Kern)
- 2019: Algorithmisches Management auf YouTube, Workshop Unsichtbare Herrschaft – wie tief greift algorithmisches Management?, Konferenz LABOR.A 2019: Plattform ‚Arbeit der Zukunft‘, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung. Cafe Moskau, Berlin
Academic Teaching
- Winter semester 2021/22: Krise und Kapitalismus, BA-Seminar, Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (with Franziska Cooiman)
- Summer semester 2017: Arbeitskämpfe im digitalen Kapitalismus, student-led project seminar, Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (with Franziska Baum)
- Winter semester 2016/17: Arbeitskämpfe im digitalen Kapitalismus, student-led project seminar, Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Journalism & Reporting
- 2024: Tech Workers: Marginalisierung oder Gegenmacht? Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation, 2.4.2024
- 2024: Digitalisierung und Macht. Direkte Aktion, 20.3.2024
- 2023: Tilting at Windmills? To Really Be a Step Forward, the EU Directive Would Need to Address Loopholes Created Through Subcontracting. Verfassungsblog, 18.7.2023
- 2023: Ausbeutung bei Lieferdiensten: Nur zum Schein beschäftigt. taz, 19.6.2023
- 2023: How to avoid the Platform Work Directive flopping: Learn from experience. The Gig Economy Project Newsletter, 14.5.2023
- 2022: Kämpfe in der Abwärtsspirale. Kritisch Lesen, Ausgabe 63, „Pandemisches Zeitalter”
- 2021: Kampf um Regulierungen. Jacobin Magazin (with Moritz Altenried)
- 2020: Kybernetische Proletarisierung: Wie in der Pandemie existierende Konflikte verschärft werden. Interview with Simon Schaupp, Berliner Gazette
- 2020: On-Demand. Prekär. Systemrelevant. Der Freitag (with Moritz Altenried and Mira Wallis)
- 2018: Im Maschinenraum der Digitalisierung. Malmoe Zeitung
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