Archinect - News2024-11-21T17:19:03-05:00https://archinect.com/news/article/150001020/uber-manipulates-its-drivers-through-behavioral-science-experiments
Uber manipulates its drivers through behavioral science experiments Nicholas Korody2017-04-03T12:49:00-04:00>2017-04-03T12:49:31-04:00
<img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/3d/3dwfrhanyh2z3p6k.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>...even as Uber talks up its determination to treat drivers more humanely, it is engaged in an extraordinary behind-the-scenes experiment in behavioral science to manipulate them in the service of its corporate growth — an effort whose dimensions became evident in interviews with several dozen current and former Uber officials, drivers and social scientists, as well as a review of behavioral research.</p></em><br /><br /><p><em>"Because its drivers are independent contractors, they lack most of the protections associated with employment. By mastering their workers’ mental circuitry, Uber and the like may be taking the economy back toward a pre-New Deal era when businesses had enormous power over workers and few checks on their ability to exploit it."</em></p>