Exploitation in rent systems: relational inequality between and within organizations

Vertical disintegration reshaped economic activity and especially employment, with the rise of contractual networks for the production and distribution of goods and services that were once under direct corporate control. With minor exceptions, much of the recent research shows the decline in working conditions that accompanies the demise of promotion trajectories, predictable pay, and generally retentive labor practices that were a key feature of internal labor markets. In this paper, I examine the link between vertical disintegration and working conditions as a relational process, considering the historical conditions of disintegration, the positionality of organizations in the network and of people in workplaces. Using the case of a franchising network, I argue that this relational conceptualization of the problem results in a better understanding of the effects on working conditions, explains the ambiguity in recent scholarship, and offers a relational concept of ‘rent systems’ to consolidate the phenomenon of brand/platform mediated employment often presented in seemingly distinct terms.