VOICES AGAINST INEQUALITIES: MULTI-LEVEL EVIDENCE FROM BRAZILIAN DIGITAL CONTENT CREATORS

The last decade has seen an increasing number of studies addressing the issue of labor inequality and workers’ marginalization in the domain of digital labor. Either focusing on the individual or the collective level, however, the majority of available research has failed to show how the micro- and the macro-levels of analysis may be connected. In an attempt to fill this gap, this study aims to shed light on the mechanisms through which the micro-level processes of managing digital work insecurity can transform into collective- and higher-level outcomes. We conducted qualitative inductive research focusing on 40 Brazilian online literary content creators. Based on Hirschman's (1970) exit-voice-loyalty perspective, our findings show that our informants first display loyalty to the rules of the game and to the gender, race and class stereotypes they are subject to. Then, as they become more “experts” they reconfigure their objectives thus turning to different forms of voice in an attempt to affect the macro-level field. Our study provides new theoretical insights on insecure work, especially in digital work, with a particular attention to vulnerable groups of workers – such as women and people of colour.