On a porn set in California’s San Fernando Valley, a performer we’ll call Jake explains why he joined the industry after dabbling in escorting. He says he was drawn to porn work because of the freedom he finds as an independent contractor.

He works 10 to 15 hours a week on average and spends the rest of his time home with his wife and son. The best thing about his job, he says, is that he can leave any time he wants: “I have nobody in charge of me.”

Jake – in keeping with standard research practice in our field, we’ve referred to everyone in this article by pseudonyms – is far from the only worker in his field who likes being his own boss. With the rise of subscription-based platforms such as OnlyFans in recent years, the porn industry has transformed into a hybrid labor market: Performers often produce their own content for online subscribers while also working for traditional studios.

Across the country, near Detroit, a strikingly similar conversation takes place with a ride-hailing driver, Jamir. In contrast to traditional office workers, whom Jamir describes as “being in a Matrix type of situation … stuck to their jobs, stuck to their time,” he views himself as “seeing the whole world.” Emphasizing the flexibility and earnings potential of driving, he says, “If I need $1,000 in one week, I can get it. … At a job, I couldn’t do that without tons of overtime and approvals.”

While Jake’s and Jamir’s daily work is different, the incentives, risks and pressures of their jobs are surprisingly alike. We know this because, as a sociologist and an organizational theorist, we’ve spent years researching the porn industry and the ride-hailing industry, respectively. We’ve studied OnlyFans and the studio-based porn industry, ride-hailing platforms such as Lyft and Uber, and other gig platforms, including TaskRabbit, Instacart and DoorDash.

And by “studying,” we don’t just mean the kind you do in the library. To pay homage to one of the forefathers of sociology, Robert Park, we got the seat of our pants dirty by directly speaking with, observing and even working alongside people like Jake and Jamir. We’ve interviewed hundreds of workers and observed these industries up close, from helping film OnlyFans shoots in performers’ bedrooms to ferrying ride-hailing passengers around town.

One of our most interesting findings is that porn performers and ride-hailing drivers often join their industry for the same reason: autonomy. While autonomy can have........

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