Soft masculinities: the case of food delivery platform workers in Helsinki

Yu-Shan Tseng

Chapter 22 in Handbook of Platform Urbanism, 2025, pp 298-306 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, I examine how masculinities – qualities and capacities associated with men – are performed by food delivery platform workers in Helsinki. In doing so, I re-examine the platform work cultures to supplement platform urbanism's focus on the political-economic problems of work, such as labour, power and gender inequalities. I argue that platform work is also a cultural issue. The proposed concept of soft masculinities underscores how couriers’ bodies and desires are sites and agents of masculine competitiveness within a gamified food delivery work environment. Certain masculine capacities allow couriers to stay ‘competitive’ in the ‘game’; however, this embodiment simultaneously renders couriers’ bodies soft – seen as being and feeling vulnerable due to their proximity to the ‘game’. Acknowledging couriers’ soft bodies and desires helps (re)construct masculinities within gamified platform work cultures.

Keywords: Masculinities; Soft bodies; Vulnerabilities; Platform cultures; Food delivery platform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035313754
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