Analysis of Contemporary Media Reporting on the World of Work
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Topic4LectureNotesPart2.pptxWork in a Global Society
Topic 4 – Technology
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Lecture Recap
In groups, discuss:
What was the weeks 4 lecture about?
What were the major themes/ideas that you got out of it?
How are the weeks linked?
Is there anything you didn’t understand/would like clarity on?
I want each group to write their key points on the whiteboard.
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Key concepts and essay questions:
Concepts:
Technological determinism
Technocracy
Technological imperative
Questions:
How has technology impacted on the changing nature of work?
Is technology a job killer? What jobs are most at risk?
When should workers embrace or resist new technology?
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Slide 3
Readings
Penny, L (2015) ‘The Robots are Coming for Your Job. That might not be bad news.’, New Statesman, 9-15 October, http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/10/robots-are-coming-your-job-might-not-be-bad-news
Healy, J., Nicholson, D., & Parker, J. (2017). Guest editors’ introduction: technological disruption and the future of employment relations. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 27(3): 157-64
Volti, R (2012) An Introduction to the Sociology of Work and Occupation, Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp. 77-94, , https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=RMIT_ALMA11136534530001341&context=L&vid=RMITU&search_scope=Books_articles_and_more&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US
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Slide 4
Work in the News
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Work in the News
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https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/robots-gender-pay-gap-europe/
The unit so far
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The World of Work: Who is Winning? Who is Losing?
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https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/future-of-work/brighter-future/lang--en/index.htm
This week’s topic is on technological change.
Reflect on the statistics provided in the previous slide and discuss in groups:
How technological change may have contributed to these outcomes?
What other factors may have contributed to these outcomes?
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The World of Work: Who is Winning? Who is Losing?
Will technological change make your job obsolete?
Will technological change only impact unskilled labour intensive jobs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0WdCa-o3cI&t=37s
See: Furman reading ‘Is this time different?’; Smith ‘Public predictions for the future of workforce automation’ (2016)
Which occupations are most vulnerable to technological change?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skG3okhx2TU
See: Penny ‘The robots are coming for your jobs’ (2015); Ehrenreich ‘Rise of the robots and ‘shadow work’’ (2015)
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Slide 10
Four Corners – Future Proof – Technology and Job Destruction and Creation
Four Corners - Future Proof Technology, job creation and destructionLinks to an external site.
In this Four Corners clip, a number of commentators explore the impact of technology in the past on the number and types of jobs and make predictions about the impact of technology on the number and types of jobs in the future.
As we watch the clip I want you to make notes about the numbers and types of jobs that will disappear and evaluate their arguments. Do you agree or disagree?
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Automation and Jobs Case Study
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Technology and the Trade Union
The trade union for warehouse workers, The National Union for Workers, has been receiving call from members concerned that over the next 10 years their jobs will be both lesser in number and deskilled. They have you as an expert in this area to tell them if they should be concerned and what if anything they should do.
In groups of no more than 5, produce a table that provides reasons why the union members should and should not be concerned about their jobs.
You should do some research about this issue and can use the lecture, the Four Corners clip, the readings for week 4 and your own research.
Once you have created your table, I would like you to discuss the following questions as a group (we will then discuss as a class):
If technology has created jobs in the past, need it do so in the future?
Which jobs are most at risk of being replaced by technology in the next 20 years?
How has technology impacted people’s working conditions?
When should members resist technological change?
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BUSM4558 Work in a Global Society
Assignment two
Working on interview questions
Today is your time to work on interview questions in preparation for your interviews. Remember:
I need to see interview questions before you conduct interviews
You should have approx 10 questions;
Remember that your questions need to relate to your topic – you should focus on specific topics (not just random questions that are all unrelated)
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