Controle algorítmico e precarização: a realidade dos/as entregadores/as por aplicativo em Uberlândia/MG

Abstract

The dissertation was developed within the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Uberlândia (PPGS/UFU), as part of the research carried out by the Research Group on Labor, Education, and Society (GPTES). Its objective was to investigate the dynamics of app-based work in the city of Uberlândia (MG), focusing on delivery workers from platforms such as iFood, Loggi, Uber, and 99flash during the years 2024 and 2025. Anchored in the historical-dialectical materialist perspective and drawing on both classical and contemporary authors from the sociology of labor, the research analyzes how the productive restructuring of capital—driven by informational technologies and neoliberal policies—has been deepening processes of precarization and flexibilization of labor relations. The methodology involved literature review, document analysis, and empirical research through semi-structured interviews with delivery workers. The guiding hypothesis was that there is a contradiction between the discourse of autonomy and flexibility promoted by the companies and the reality of algorithmic control, work intensification, and the transfer of risks and costs to the workers. The study also questions recent proposals for regulation of the sector and highlights how platforms benefit from legislative loopholes and deregulation, shaping new forms of labor expropriation and reconfiguring the relations between capital and labor in digital capitalism. By giving visibility to the experiences and strategies of delivery workers, this work contributes to the academic and political debate on the new morphologies of labor and the challenges to social protection in the platform era.