Q. Critically assess the impact of technological advancement and automation on the nature of work and employment.

Model Answer:

Impact of Technology on Work

Technological advancement marks a transition from Fordist manufacturing to a Post-Industrial Society (Daniel Bell), profoundly reshaping the social relations of production and worker identity.

• Deskilling vs. Upskilling: Harry Braverman argues automation separates conception from execution, causing deskilling and deep alienation. Conversely, Robert Blauner posits that continuous-process automation actually increases worker autonomy.
• Invisible Surveillance: Drawing on Michel Foucault’s Panopticon, Shoshana Zuboff warns of Surveillance Capitalism, where AI and screen-tracking create continuous, disciplinary control over workers.

Impact on Employment

• Rise of the Precariat: Guy Standing argues that the digital gig economy has created the Precariat—a fundamentally insecure class stripped of occupational identity and collective bargaining rights.
• Labor Polarization: Technology hollows out middle-skill occupations, polarizing society into high-wage knowledge elites and low-wage, insecure service workers.

Generative AI increasingly threatens the “white-collar proletariat,” while delivery platforms use algorithmic management to control workers without human managers, culminating in severe digital alienation.

Conclusion

While functionalists view automation as progressive structural differentiation, conflict theorists warn of heightened capitalist exploitation. Mitigating this modern precarity demands a new social contract, potentially integrating Universal Basic Income.