Labor Self-Exploitation

This study develops an analytically grounded intersectional framework to understand labor self-exploitation through a combined bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review of research indexed in Scopus (1978–2024). The findings identify six dominant analytical strands: economic theory, crisis and pandemic contexts, creative labor, gender studies, education and employability, and digitalization. Rather than treating these perspectives separately, the study integrates them to explain how structural precariousness, neoliberal discourses of autonomy and merit, and intersecting social positions interact to produce differentiated patterns of self-imposed overwork. The analysis shows that self-exploitation emerges where economic vulnerability is internalized as personal responsibility, particularly among platform workers, academics, creative professionals, migrants, and gendered labor contexts. By bridging structural and agency-centered explanations, the proposed categorization clarifies how coercion and consent operate simultaneously. The framework supports context-sensitive policy responses, including digital labor regulation, institutional workload governance, and gender-responsive social protection, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary labor precarity.