| 总结: | This article investigates why gig economy workers who see themselves as self-employed
freelancers also engage in collective action traditionally associated with regular employment.
Using ethnographic evidence on the remote gig economy in North America, the United
Kingdom, and the Philippines, we argue that labour platforms increase the agency of workers
to contract with clients and thus reduce the risk of false self-employment in terms of the
worker-client relationship. However, in doing so, platforms create a new source of
subordination to the platform itself. We term this phenomenon ‘subordinated agency’, and
demonstrate that it entails a ‘structured antagonism’ with platforms that manifests in three
areas: fees, competition, and worker voice mechanisms. Subordinated agency creates worker
desire for representation, greater voice, and even unionisation towards the platform, while
preserving entrepreneurial attitudes towards clients.
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