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  • © 2020

Automation and Human Solidarity

Authors:

  • Bridges all the social science disciplines
  • Argues that it's a big mistake to imagine that technology itself – whatever its potential for liberation – will actually lead to freedom for workers
  • Goes beyond utopian or dystopian views of new technologies

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Introduction

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 1-16
  3. Automation

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 17-30
  4. Individualism and Solidarity

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 31-49
  5. Nature and Science

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 67-78
  6. Moral Regulation

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 79-91
  7. Globalisation

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 107-115
  8. Conclusion

    • Bill Jordan
    Pages 117-131
  9. Back Matter

    Pages 133-151

About this book

This book provides a detailed analysis of the economic and political implications of the introduction of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics into the service sector of economies that have so far relied on service jobs to sustain levels of employment. It examines how reliance on coercive measures for enforcing low-paid service work attempts to postpone this third Industrial Revolution, and analyses the struggles that must still take place if we are to achieve a future of freedom and social justice for all. While automation and globalisation have made human solidarities of traditional kinds more difficult to sustain, they have also made new kinds possible. Experiments in social policy, and especially the pilot projects with unconditional Universal Basic Incomes, offer a possible model for a new kind of society. The author argues that it is politics which will determine whether we can achieve these new human solidarities.

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Social Science and Social Work, University of Plymouth, Exeter, UK

    Bill Jordan

About the author

Bill Jordan is Honorary Professor of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Plymouth, UK. He has authored more than 25 books on politics, economic and social policy, social work and migration, including Authoritarianism and How to Counter It (2020) and The Age of Disintegration (2020). He held visiting professorships in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access