Abstract
In this talk, Rosana Pinheiro-Machado examines how the global far right mobilises the platform-based working class through digital media amid capitalism’s transformation. Drawing on 25 years of ethnographic research and on various projects on economic precarity in the global South, especially Brazil, she explores how rage, aspiration, and the search for recognition shape ambivalent political subjectivities. The talk explores the concepts of precarious entitlement and self-worth to explain why digital entrepreneurship can both empower and entrap workers, influencing their ideological alignments.
Bio
Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, an anthropologist, is a Professor of Global Studies at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. She is the Director of the Digital Economy and Extreme Politics Lab (DeepLab) and the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded project Flexible Work, Rigid Politics in Brazil, India, and the Philippines. Her ethnographic research explores the intersection of reactionary politics and precariousness in the emerging economies of the Global South.