Documents social aspect 340 results

"Cinq ans après la fin d'une lutte collective longue et très médiatisée contre la fermeture d'une usine rurale de connectique du Sud-Ouest de la France, sous-traitante de l'automobile, cet article questionne l'évolution dans le temps du rôle joué par l'association de soutien créée par ses anciens ouvriers. Juste après la fermeture en 2009, le local de cette association devient un lieu où perdure la sociabilité apparue durant la grève et où sont élaborées les actions permettant le maintien de la mobilisation et la conduite de la lutte judiciaire qui s'engage devant le tribunal des prud'hommes. L'association est aussi un lieu d'échanges et de réflexions où, au contact de responsables syndicaux (majoritairement CGT), un certain nombre de salariés non militants entreprennent l'élaboration et l'activation de schèmes politiques autour de la globalisation économique, de la place des ouvriers dans le système productif ou encore des pouvoirs publics nationaux. Cependant, avec l'émergence de nouvelles préoccupations matérielles (chercher un emploi, négocier une mutuelle collective, protéger les plus isolés), les activités de l'association se déplacent progressivement vers l'action sociale, sans pour autant se déconnecter du devenir de l'usine (partiellement réouverte). Les débats liés à cette cohabitation et cette intrication, entre prestation de services individuels et vocation initiale de maintien d'un groupe combatif décidé à lutter pour l'emploi, relèvent tout autant de visions divergentes quant au rôle d'une association d'ex-salariés licenciés que de l'évolution du collectif dans le temps."

"This book assesses the role of employers in the development of welfare state and labour market institutions. Building on an in-depth analysis of Germany, a market economy known to often provide economic benefits to firms, this book explores one of the most contested issues in the comparative and historical literature on the welfare state.
In a departure from existing employer-centered explanations, the author applies new empirical data to contend that the variation in acceptance of social reform depends more on changes in the types of political challenges faced by employers, than on changes in the type of institutions considered economically beneficial. Covering major reforms spanning more than a century of institutional development in unemployment insurance, accident insurance, pensions, collective bargaining, and codetermination, this book argues that employers support social policy as a means to contain political outcomes that would have been worse, including labour unrest and more radical reform plans. Using new and controversial findings on the role of employers in welfare state development, this book considers the conditions for a peaceful coexistence of a generous welfare state and the business world."

"Russell begins by asserting that the standard model of AI research, in which the primary definition of success is getting better and better at achieving rigid human-specified goals, is dangerously misguided. Such goals may not actually reflect what human designers intend, such as by failing to take into account any human values not included in the goals. If an AI developed according to the standard model were to become superintelligent, it would likely not fully reflect human values and could be catastrophic to humanity. Russell asserts that precisely because the timeline for developing human-level or superintelligent AI is highly uncertain, safety research should be begun as soon as possible, as it is also highly uncertain how long it would take to complete such research.

Russell argues that continuing progress in AI capability is inevitable because of economic pressures. Such pressures can already be seen in the development of existing AI technologies such as self-driving cars and personal assistant software. Moreover, human-level AI could be worth many trillions of dollars. Russell then examines the current debate surrounding AI risk. He offers refutations to a number of common arguments dismissing AI risk and attributes much of their persistence to tribalism—AI researchers may see AI risk concerns as an "attack" on their field. However, Russell reiterates that there are legitimate reasons to take AI risk concerns seriously and that economic pressures make continued innovation in AI inevitable."