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Hackathons Are Dystopian Events That Dupe People Into Working For Free, Say Sociologists (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader writes: That's the conclusion that two sociologists came to after observing seven hackathons over the period of one year, reports Wired. In "Hackathons As Co-optation Ritual: Socializing Workers and Institutionalizing Innovation in the 'New' Economy," sociologists Sharon Zukin and Max Papadantonakis argue that companies use the allure of hackathons to get people to work for free. They says sponsors fuel the "romance of digital innovation by appealing to the hackers' aspiration to be multi-dimensional agents of change" when in fact the hackathons are just a means of labor control.

1 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Original article is here by XXongo · · Score: 5, Informative
    For some reason the summary linked a news article ABOUT the Wired article, not the Wired article:
    https://www.wired.com/story/sociologists-examine-hackathons-and-see-exploitation/amp

    nor the actual paper being discussed:
    https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S0277-283320170000031005