معرفی
Brian Dolber is an Associate Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication & Media Studies at California State University, San Marcos. His work bridges academic scholarship with activist engagement, particularly in the areas of labor, media policy, and the political economy of digital platforms.
Education
- Ph.D. in Communication from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2011)
- B.A. in Journalism from The George Washington University (2003)
Dolber's research examines the relationships between media, labor, technology, and policymaking in historical and contemporary contexts. His scholarship focuses on political economy, labor studies, media history, and media policy, with particular attention to the gig economy and digital labor organizing. He has conducted extensive participant-action research with Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), an organization of 20,000 app-based drivers in California. His work demonstrates how gig workers are harnessing changes in technology and media to challenge exploitative labor practices under late neoliberalism, creating new possibilities for labor organizing in the 21st century.
His scholarly output reveals consistent engagement with critical issues at the intersection of digital technology, labor rights, and media policy. Dolber's work tracks the evolution of platform capitalism and worker resistance, with particular focus on how digital technologies are reshaping labor relations and enabling new forms of worker solidarity. His research spans historical analysis of media and labor movements to contemporary studies of gig economy organizing, demonstrating a commitment to both theoretical innovation and practical application.
Dolber has been actively involved in labor organizing as an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United. His participant-action research has been supported by the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council and the Media, Inequality & Change (MIC) Center. He has served as co-chair of Union for Democratic Communications and has advised on policy matters related to the gig economy, including California's Proposition 22.
He teaches courses including Histories of Media Technology, Political Economy of Media, Media Policy in the U.S., and Digital Policymaking, bringing his research expertise directly into the classroom. His forthcoming book, 'Start Me Up: Rideshare Drivers United's Struggle for Worker Democracy in the Shadow of Silicon Valley,' examines how workers are self-organizing in the gig economy and is under contract with University of Illinois Press.
