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This article examines the issue of heterogeneity in relation to workers' representation within digital platforms. Specifically, the research analyses the regulatory process that took place within the food-delivery sector in Italy, investigating how the heterogeneity of couriers is reflected in the Just Eat Takeaway agreement signed in 2021. The novel contribution of this paper is to relate two perspectives – those of workers and unions – that have rarely been considered together in the literature on digital labour platforms. Based on extensive qualitative research in Milan, the heterogeneity of riders is synthesized into a threefold typology identified by three metaphors: the explorer, the entrepreneur and the labourer. It is argued that the introduction of a standard employment contract has led to an increase in workers’ rights and social protection. However, the current form of the agreement favours less vulnerable riders – the explorer – at the expense of those who are more numerous and dependent on platform income – the entrepreneur and the labourer. We conclude that this agreement can be interpreted mainly as a means for trade unions to legitimise their institutional role in the socio-economic arena and strengthen their power resources for future negotiations.

This paper explores how concepts from two influential strands of liberalism, new liberalism and neoliberalism, are represented in a sample of online media articles by analysing news coverage of the Trade Union Act (2016). The analysis centres on internet news items published on the websites of The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Sky News, and BBC News. To systematise the analysis, three thematic axes were constructed: a) Democracy, Law and Order; b) Civil and Labour Rights; c) Military Metaphors, Privileges and Trade Unions.

The paper examines the roles of Crescas and Spinoza in the transition from the medieval to the modern conception of the universe. Crescas is presented as an illustrative example of the tension between Aristotelianism and revealed religion and how the latter brings about the dissolution of the former, thus paving the way for the modern conception of the universe. It is then showed how this modern conception is embodied in Spinoza’s thought, which radicalizes some of its defining traits. This radicalization undermines the traditional conception of the Deus absconditus and leads in Spinoza to the replacement of religion by philosophy as the true divine revelation.

This work is structured around two exploratory objectives. Firstly, it aims to analyse the effects of connective participation and consumption in which donations in political crowdfunding campaigns can be framed. Secondly, it will study the characteristics and socio-demographic profile of the people who donate to political crowdfunding campaigns. In order to obtain information, we have developed a questionnaire that has resulted in a non-probabilistic purposive sample of one hundred and twenty-five valid and complete responses. The paper closes with a discussion and the presentation of two hypotheses that reflect the main findings of this exploratory study. On the one hand, the characteristics and profile of the participants would be predominantly male, middle-aged (thirty-six to fifty years old), with a high level of formal education (university studies) and a medium income level. On the other hand, the participation analysed is hegemonic among activists with experience and commitment. This fact could reflect an increase in participatory inequalities between participatory and nonparticipatory people as a consequence of the characteristics of the forms of connective action and consumption.