Documents Cole, Matthew 4 results

"Modern capitalist economies are witnessing a period of rapid technological progress. Developments in digital technologies, inclusive of artificial intelligence (AI), are predicted by some at least to create the potential for a great reduction in the volume of work. Others see scope for digital technologies to transform the quality of work. This report addresses the nature, scope and possible effects of digital automation. It reviews relevant literature and situates modern debates on technological change in historical context. It identifies threats to job quality and an unequal distribution of the risks and benefits associated with digital automation. It also offers some policy options that, if implemented, would help to harness technology for positive economic and social ends. The policy options range from industry and sectoral skills alliances that focus on facilitating transitions for workers in 'at risk' jobs, to proposals for the reduction in work time. The suggested policies derive from the view that digital automation must be managed on the basis of principles of industrial democracy and social partnership. The report argues for a new Digital Social Contract. At a time of crisis, the policy options set out in the report aim to offer hope for a digital future that works for all."

"The 1980s witnessed an intense political and ideological struggle over unemployment in Britain, which often involved sociologists defending the unemployed against real or perceived governmental attacks on their work ethic. Notwithstanding valid criticisms of the practical efficacy of supply-side unemployment policies, this rebuttal of governmental`victim-blaming'tactics restricted a deeper critique of the meaning and purpose of work, and perversely helped to reproduce a moral discourse of work in symbiosis with the Thatcher government. Subsequent critiques of New Labour policies have frequently perpetuated this moral discourse, through explicitly or tacitly positing (paid) `work' as the preferred or only `solution' to the `problem' of unemployment.An alternative solution could be a guaranteed income policy. This could both challenge the moral discourse of work and direct policy critique away from areas that teleologically inscribe preferred lifestyles such as that of paid worker."

"Digital labour platforms have been widely promoted as a solution to the unemployment crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic has also highlighted the vulnerability of gig workers when cast as essential workers. This article examines the COVID-19 policies of 191 platforms in 43 countries to understand how the crisis has shifted the conventions of the gig economy. Using a typology of “fair platform work”, the authors identify areas of progress in worker protection but also significant shortfalls, including the entrenchment of precarious work as platforms leverage the opportunities arising from the crisis."