THE GIG ECONOMY
A searing exposé of how Uber, DoorDash, and Amazon turned employment into exploitation by disguising workers as independent contractors.
Business & EconomicsCapitalism & CorporationsConsumer CultureDigital Culture & TechnologyPolitical Economy
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Chapters
17 total- 01Chapter One - The Lie in the Label
- 02Chapter Two - How Corporations Rewrote the Rules of Work
- 03Chapter Three - Uber, Lyft, and the App Hustle Mirage
- 04Chapter Four - The Amazon Driver Who Doesn’t Work for Amazon
- 05Chapter Five - DoorDash and the Death of the Schedule
- 06Chapter Six - From Full-Time to Gig-Time
- 07Chapter Seven - No Healthcare, No Leave, No Safety Net
- 08Chapter Eight - Injured on the Job? Good Luck
- 09Chapter Nine - Taxes, Tips, and Traps
- 10Chapter Ten - Algorithm as Boss
- 11Chapter Eleven - Ghosted by Your Job
- 12Chapter Twelve - AB5 and the California Crackdown
- 13Chapter Thirteen - Unionizing Without a Workplace
- 14Chapter Fourteen - The Return of the Company Town
- 15Chapter Fifteen - The International Scam
- 16Chapter Sixteen - What Comes After the Gig
- 17Chapter Seventeen - You Work for Who You Can’t See
Edition notes and short pages
THE GIG ECONOMY
THE GIG ECONOMY
How Apps Replaced Employment
by James Johnson
Dedication
For the workers they pretended didn’t exist.
You weren’t flexible. You were disposable.
They knew that. And they built it anyway.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TO THE DRIVERS, the riders, the shoppers, and the couriers.
The ones who worked sick, broke, tired, and invisible.
This book is stitched from your stories, your warnings, and your silence.
To the people still fighting for the right to be seen as workers.
You’re not alone.
You’re not crazy.
And you’re not going away.
And to the ones who’ve been deactivated, ghosted, or replaced:
You deserved better.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JJ IS THE author of over 250 books on power, systems, labor, belief, and control. His work dissects how things really work, from corporations and governments to empires and ideologies. He lays them bare in sharp, readable narratives with fire, clarity, and zero patience for bullshit.
This book is part of a growing archive that refuses to let the powerful write the story unchallenged.
COPYRIGHT
COPYRIGHT © 2025 JAMES Johnson All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews, articles, or educational settings with proper attribution.
This book is a journalistic and analytical work. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, all details are based on publicly available sources, legal documents, news reports, worker testimonies, and historical records as of the date of publication. The views expressed are the author’s own.
Any resemblance to specific individuals or companies beyond those explicitly named is coincidental, but if you feel personally called out, you probably should be.