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Digitisation and Precarisation pp 181–203Cite as

Electric Dreams of Welfare in the 4th Industrial Revolution: An Actor-network Investigation and Genealogy of an Algorithm

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Abstract

Digital interventions are re-constituting the state administration of the labour market, a set of changes that have rendered the social safety-net ever more precarious; not just work, but welfare is becoming precariatised by new forms of governmentality. Discussions about the fourth industrial revolution, big data, AI, algorithmic knowledge, neural networks and robotics has captured public debates about the future of work. However, it is equally concerning when democracies, the public realm and the state adopt these digital technologies in how they administer, govern and construct welfare processes.

The authors work at the Waterford Institute of Technology. This research is based on the project—Understanding Unemployment in the Era of Big Data (PEX Project)—This research is funded by the Irish Research Council New Horizons Interdisciplinary Research Project Award.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Editors’ note: Network of Local and Branch Offices, Employment Services Offices and offices administering Supplementary Welfare Allowance. One-stop-shops incorporating multiple welfare divisions.

  2. 2.

    Editors’ note: in the following ANT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland

    Ray Griffin, Aisling Tuite & Aoife Hennessy

  2. Humanities Office, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland

    Tom Boland

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  1. Ray Griffin
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  2. Tom Boland
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  3. Aisling Tuite
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Correspondence to Ray Griffin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow, Russia

    Vyacheslav Bobkov

  2. University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Peter Herrmann

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Griffin, R., Boland, T., Tuite, A., Hennessy, A. (2020). Electric Dreams of Welfare in the 4th Industrial Revolution: An Actor-network Investigation and Genealogy of an Algorithm. In: Bobkov, V., Herrmann, P. (eds) Digitisation and Precarisation. Prekarisierung und soziale Entkopplung – transdisziplinäre Studien. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-26384-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-26384-3_11

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