The New Occupational Field of YouTubers in Germany - Inequality and Self-Economization in Algorithm-Based Markets

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Roland Verwiebe
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497035457

YouTube is currently among the most popular internet platforms in Germany and worldwide and serves as a key example of the digital transformation of society. Increasingly, the platform has become a subject of scholarly inquiry, not least because it enables new forms of professional activity, which constitute the focus of this proposal. Social science research in this area highlights a high degree of self-economization, dependencies on non-human actors (algorithms), tendencies toward precarious working conditions, as well as freedoms and opportunities for upward social mobility—characteristics that are emblematic of platform-based labor. Building on these insights, the proposed project seeks to examine social inequalities within the newly emerging occupational group of YouTubers. The project is conceived as a continuation proposal.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants