Daniel Auguste: Democratizing the Economy or Introducing Economic Risk? Gig Work During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Daniel Auguste
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Florida Atlantic University
Faculty Affiliate, Social Policy Institute, Washington University
MIT MLK Visiting Assistant Professor 2022-2023 

Synopsis:
The growth of the gig economy has coincided with increased economic precarity in the new economy, but we know less about the extent to which gig work may fuel economic insecurity among American households. We examine the extent to which the expansion of the gig economy may exacerbate labor market inequality, as well as the degree to which a family’s wealth endowment may protect people against adverse economic consequences of the gig economy.

Bio:
Daniel Auguste is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University and a faculty affiliate at the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include inequality, stratification, economic and organizational sociology, and entrepreneurship. More specifically, Auguste's research agenda seeks to understand the structural forces determining who gets what, who participates and to what level they participate in the capitalist production process--questions that have been at the center of sociological inquiry for decades. Drawing on structural sociological theories and using large-scale survey data and various statistical methodologies, Auguste offers new theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence to these timeless questions.

Panelists:

• Daniel Acheampong, Co-Founder & General Partner, visiblehands.vc
• Jenny Larios Berlin, Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship; Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management
• Jason Jackson, Assistant Professor in Political Economy and Urban Planning, DUSP
• Elisabeth Reynolds, Principal Research Scientist and Executive Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center; Lecturer, DUSP