SOCI2050 6th November

2020

Week 13: Future of work

Predictions of previous theorist

 The economist Keynes argued that technological progress might allow a

15-hour work week and abundant leisure (great reduction in working
hours).
 Others warned that industrial technology would threat to upend
manufacturing and devour our civilisation.

Two visions of the future of work

Utopian (positive, optimistic)

 Benefiting from the increasing level of automation in the future, we can

stop working!
 Four dimensions: 1. More and full automation

2. Reduce the working week

3. Universal basic income (UBI)

4. Culture shift in the understanding of work

Dystopian (negative, pessimistic)

 In 1977 the closing of Campbell Works mill. Within five years, the city
lose 50000 jobs and 1.3 billion dollars in manufacturing wages.
 The future of work is bleak. There will be more insecure jobs and more
jobs replaced by machines and robots (one example is that self-driving
car snaking through the street and the drivers will be replaced).
 An era of technological unemployment, in which computer scientists and
software engineers essentially invent us out of work, and the total number
of jobs declines steadily and slightly.
 The reason why people do not work fewer hours than before mainly
because of the increasing number of “Bullshit” jobs.
 Bullshit jobs: meaningless jobs (What kind of work is meaningless—it
 SOCI2050 6th November
2020
makes no contribution to the world. This criterion is very vague. Change
your mind and ask yourself a question: imagine that your job will
disappear tomorrow. Will the world become different?).

Since this week’s topic is one of the questions of the final assessment,
Charlotte (Lecturer) briefly talk about the two visions rather than
elaborate them in detail. Good luck for the final assessment!