Amazonisierung der Industriearbeit?

Butollo, Florian; Ehrlich, Martin; Engel, Thomas

doi:10.1515/arbeit-2017-0003

Cited by 41 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In terms of production technology, "digitalization" in the context of Industry 4.0 describes a new wave of information-technology penetration, networking, and automation of modern production and industrial support services. The start and development of this wave cannot be dated with historical accuracy (Butollo et al, 2017), and its content cannot be precisely defined. The range of digital innovations begins with the use of new information-technology tools in production processes (e.g., tablets to control a machine, data glasses in logistics).…”

Section: Methods and Empirical Basis Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acatech, 2016b), "downgrading" (cf. Butollo et al, 2017), and "reskilling" (cf. Wolter et al, 2016).…”

Section: Upskilling Downgrading or Reskilling?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Promoters of Industry 4.0, for example, foresee a large-scale change ("general upskilling") in the qualification requirements of the whole shop-floor workforce (Acatech, 2016b). Others expect a general downgrading instead (Butollo et al, 2017). Another thesis is that there will be a massive restructuring of companies' employment structure ("reskilling") such that existing activities Matthes, 2015, 2019) or professions (Wolter et al, 2016) will disappear and completely new ones will be created.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Digitized Industrial Work: Requirements, Opportunities, and Problems of Competence Development

Baethge-Kinsky¹

2020

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

German companies have been affected by a new wave of digitalization during the past years, and this has led to responses both in the way production is organized and in the goals of the German industrial policy. The coordinated response is widely referred to as “Industry 4.0” and is intended to support German industries in the increasingly fierce competition for global leadership in manufacturing. Simultaneously, a social science debate about changes in work and in employee training began and continues to this day. Far-reaching predictions of fundamental change circulate, especially concerning the organization of work and worker competence requirements. Other issues include also the needs and opportunities of firm-based competence development at work as well as the role and the uses of digital media. In recent years, more empirical studies have become available for clarifying open questions, and this paper presents three main results from one such study based on case investigations in 10 German industrial firms. First, digitalization does not change industrial production work radically. There is no general trend of upskilling, downgrading, or reskilling. A moderate trend favoring upgrading is observable, however. Thus, traditional workforce competences are not becoming “obsolete.” Rather, in the context of automation, they are being complemented by other skills including new technical qualifications in information technology as well as the ability to take a more theoretical approach to problem-solving in process optimization. Second, our results confirm more cautious assessments of the need for accelerated continuing vocational training. They also make it clear that the potential for increased learning opportunities in digital work and for the increased use of digital media in continuing vocational training has been overestimated. Learning opportunities seem to decrease rather than increase with digital work. Moreover, the use of digital media in continuing vocational training is limited due to organizational, financial, and cultural constraints and due to the lack of knowledge about the effectiveness of digital learning environments. Third, a number of organizational measures are needed to manage change. One measure would be to integrate new skill requirements into a binding institutional curriculum for education and training. Another measure would be to make on-the-job learning opportunities a central aspect of how work is organized.

show abstract

Section: Methods and Empirical Basis Of The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acatech, 2016b), "downgrading" (cf. Butollo et al, 2017), and "reskilling" (cf. Wolter et al, 2016).…”

Section: Upskilling Downgrading or Reskilling?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Digitized Industrial Work: Requirements, Opportunities, and Problems of Competence Development

Baethge-Kinsky¹

2020

Front. Sociol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In studies on AI in the world of work, there has been little conceptual analysis of AI as a 'general-purpose technology' (Brynjolfsson et al 2019;Crafts, 2021), separate from other change processes (for example, digitalisation in general, Industry 4.0, platforms). AI can function as an instrument of work rationalisation (in companies or on platforms), by controlling, deskilling, narrowing the scope of action and alienation (in the sense of a digital Taylorism, Butollo et al, 2017), and as a technology enabling monopolisation and proprietarisation in digital capitalism (Staab, 2019). AI potentially allows for an intensification of management driven by Key Performance Indicators (KPI), real-time optimisation, the anonymisation and automation of performance monitoring and the expansion of indirect control into the private sphere.…”

Section: Artificial Intelligence As a Challenge For Sociology (Of Work)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building on the considerations of contingency and selectivity discussed above, we now focus on questions of management and control of work. AI can be used as a means of digital Taylorism by integrating AI systems into work in order to limit the scope of action and knowledge of working subjects through more direct control (Butollo et al,2017). Depending on the implementation of the AI system and organisational strategies (Nies, 2021), AI can either control work directly and rigidly or indirectly through the enacted objectivity and factuality of its output.…”

Section: Between Complexity and Standardisation: Artificial Intellige...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial intelligence in the practice of work

Heinlein¹,

Huchler²

2023

WOLG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article proposes an analytical perspective on artificial intelligence (AI) that can be fruitful in the sociology of work. The practical logic of new forms of AI (connectionist AI) is described as an interplay of social and technical processes of opening and closing possibilities of knowledge and action. In order to develop this argument, it is first shown in which sense AI can be understood as a contingency-generating technology in socio-technical contexts. The architecture based on neural networks is elaborated as a decisive feature of connectionist AI that not only opens up technical possibilities but can also shape social processes and structures by ‘selectivity’. However, this shaping does not take place solely on the part of the AI, but only becomes apparent in the interplay with specific restrictions that lie both in the social context of use and in the algorithmic architecture of the AI itself. For research in the sociology of work, this means that contingency theory approaches must be linked with approaches that emphasise the limits of (‘intelligent’) digitalisation. The yield of such a perspective is outlined in relation to the control of work with AI.

show abstract

Technik und Teilhabe. Wer entscheidet in der digitalen Arbeitswelt?

Ehrlich

Engel

2018

Bildung Und Arbeit

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Amazonisierung der Industriearbeit?

Cited by 41 publications

References 11 publications

Digitized Industrial Work: Requirements, Opportunities, and Problems of Competence Development

Digitized Industrial Work: Requirements, Opportunities, and Problems of Competence Development

Artificial intelligence in the practice of work

Technik und Teilhabe. Wer entscheidet in der digitalen Arbeitswelt?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About