The Myth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract

This article argues that there is no such phenomenon as a Fourth Industrial Revolution. It derives a framework for the analysis of any industrial revolution from a careful historical account of the archetypal First Industrial Revolution. The suggested criteria for any socioeconomic transformation to be considered an industrial revolution are that it must encompass a technological revolution; a transformation of the labour process; a fundamental change in workplace relations; new forms of community and social relationships; and global socio-economic transformations. These transformations indeed characterise the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. The aggregate of technical innovations in the latter is carefully examined, because this is a crucial part of determining whether we can meaningfully claim that a Fourth Industrial Revolution is underway. The article demonstrates that we cannot.

PIS: IoT & Industry 4.0 Challenges

“…Standardization of the semantic representation and interoperability of the knowledge and the D2D interactions is also a great issue (Burns et al, 2019), and an agreed methodology among manufacturers would have to be established to meet the roadmap for standardization of Industry 4.0 proposed by Platform Industrie 4.0 (Platform Industrie 4.0, 2019). • From Industry 4.0 to Society 5.0: Some studies analyze the complex, mutually generative range of economic, social and political transformations of the First, Second and Third Industrial Revolutions, and argument that the same criteria cannot be found about the alleged Fourth Industrial Revolution (Moll, 2021). Technologies undoubtedly continue to alter work, and lead to new varieties of work, but this evolution must also meet the broader social, cultural and geopolitical transformations to constitute a revolution.…”

The Fourth Industrial Revolution: A New Ideology

“…However, despite the post-1976 echoes of the 4IR formula amongst the faithful, a careful historical analysis demonstrates that there is no such phenomenon as a 4IR in contemporary times. In the following section, I summarise a deeper and more systematic argument set out in Moll (2021a;2021b).…”

“…There are debates about it, but few question that there is a 4IR. However, I have demonstrated elsewhere that there is no such phenomenon (Moll 2021a). There is simply no evidence of a contemporary, grand confluence of digital technologies that is radically transforming work, society and global power beyond the defining characteristics of the Third Industrial Revolution (3IR).…”

The Public Transport Crisis in South Africa: Through the Eyes of the Four Revolutions

“…The notion of the 4IR as a framework for understanding technological surges and development has been questioned by some leading scholars of innovation and development (Maharajh, 2019;Cooper, 2021). Others have gone as far as to argue that the 4IR is a myth created to defocus the marginalised and workers from the struggles of the social, economic, and ecological crisis facing the world today (Moll, 2021). The periodisation of technological development as four technological revolutions is also contested.…”