Philosophy & Technology· 2026Q1
Shopping Can Be Labor: A Reply to Nicholas Vrousalis
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Short summary
Organized shopping can be classified as labor, offering a framework for fair contracts through collective bargaining, contrary to Vrousalis's view.
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Key points
- Organized shopping can be classified as labor.
- Labor institutions offer a model for securing fair contracts via collective bargaining.
- The classification of shopping as labor warrants scrutiny, even if counterintuitive.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract Nicholas Vrousalis recognizes that shopping can help train recommendation systems, but denies that shoppers thereby perform labor. An engineer clicks to train a system, whereas a shopper clicks to buy socks. He also considers the labor account redundant because its protections can be justified without classifying shopping as labor. I defend the classification and its usefulness. Organized shopping can reasonably count as labor, and labor institutions offer a developed model for securing fair contracts through collective bargaining. A counterintuitive conclusion deserves scrutiny, although its counterintuitiveness alone cannot settle whether the proposed revision is justified.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Philosophy & Technology, 2026 · DOI ↗
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