Spencer, D (2017) Work in and beyond the Second Machine Age: the politics of production and digital technologies. Work, Employment and Society, 31 (1). pp. 142-152. ISSN 0950-0170
Abstract
Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, in their widely read and politically impactful book The Second Machine Age, highlight the costs and benefits of digital technologies for the volume and quality of work and identify reforms designed to ensure that digital technologies deliver net advantages to workers and society more generally. This article offers a critique of their thesis. Specifically, it criticizes the authors for their neglect of the nexus between the politics of production and digital technologies. They fail, in short, to grasp the importance of power relations for the form, direction and outcomes of digital technologies. The article argues for an alternative view of the progress of digital technologies that is rooted in an understanding of the political economy of capitalism. In this respect, it draws on and applies ideas and concepts from Marxian political economy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2016, The Author. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Work, Employment and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | capitalism; digital technologies; future of work; politics of production; Second Machine Age |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Economics Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 25 May 2016 13:36 |
Last Modified: | 10 Apr 2017 16:24 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017016645716 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0950017016645716 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:97294 |