Smart Machines and Service Work Automation in an Age of Stagnation : Automation in an Age of Stagnation

In recent decades digital devices have reshaped daily life, while tech companies stock prices have thrust them to the forefront of the business world. In this rapid, global development, the promise of a new machine age has been accompanied by worries about accelerated joblessness thanks to new forms of automation. Jason E. Smith looks behind the techno-hype to lay out the realities of a period of economic slowdown and expanding debt: low growth rates and an increase of labour-intensive jobs at the bottom of the service sector. He shows how increasing inequality and poor working conditions have led to new forms of workers struggles. Ours is less an age of automation, Smith contends, than one in which stagnation is intertwined with class conflict. In recent decades digital devices have reshaped daily life, while tech companies' stock prices have thrust them to the forefront of the business world. In this rapid, global development, the promise of a new machine age has been accompanied by worries about accelerated joblessness thanks to new forms of automation. Jason E. Smith looks behind the techno-hype to lay out the realities of a period of economic slowdown and expanding debt: low growth rates and an increase of labor-intensive jobs at the bottom of the service sector. He shows how increasing inequality and poor working conditions have led to new forms of workers' struggles. Ours is less an age of automation, Smith contends, than one in which stagnation is intertwined with class conflict. -- Provided by publisher Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Automation 2.0 1. A Little History of Automation 2. The Robot and the Zombie 3. Army of Shadows 4. Approaching Zero 5. Circulation and Control 6. The Servant Economy 7. An Absolute Law References Acknowledgments A trenchant expose of the effects of automation on worker's lives.