Refugees on the Platform: An Ethnographic Case Study of Intergenerational Social Mobility Among Refugee Families in India's Informal Economy

On-demand platforms such as Uber, Swiggy, and Ola have increasingly become major employers within India’s informal economy. Recent research highlights that platform-based employment appeals to migrants due to its low entry barriers. With migrants on-boarding platforms, an important question arises: Does engagement in platform based work lead to qualitative improvements in the lives of these workers? This question is crucial as urban workers shift from traditional employment to platform-dependent entrepreneurship within the informal economy. In this study, we examine the intergenerational social mobility of refugee families, specifically those whose primary earning members currently work for ride-hailing platforms in urban settings. Kolkata, India, has witnessed several waves of refugee settlements, particularly after the Partition, when refugees from Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) arrived in the city. Initially these refugee families faced poverty and relied on informal jobs, although some in later generations secured government employment.

However, in recent years, many earning members of these families have turned to platform dependent entrepreneurship rather than formal sector employment. This intergenerational transition from informal to formal work forms the foundation of our study. We focus on Ajoynagar, a neighbourhood in South Kolkata where refugees settled in 1975, and examine the intergenerational social mobility of these refugee families. We use ethnography as our primary methodology, and our methods include semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The interviews were conducted with platform dependent entrepreneurs who are engaged with major ride-hailing platforms and other related individuals (such as family members and neighbours). Our findings indicate how neighbours and household members tend to encourage platform dependent entrepreneurs to maintain financial discipline and may even provide resources to help preserve their social status. This indicates that social mobility is not only an individual aspiration but also a social process, where off-platform relationships play a crucial role in protecting and sustaining progress.