Just as early Western coffee shops in the seventeenth century provided a venue for the proliferation of democratic and egalitarian ideas, by mingling different classes in one physical space, the cafés of the 2010s also created a form of social organization. They offered a casual gathering point for the growing economy of “gig workers” and digital creative laborers, people whose schedules didn’t align with the usual nine-to-five of the traditional office, and who lacked the infrastructure of an office entirely.
