Download or read book Automation Capitalism and the End of the Middle Class written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-18 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, the author argues that a new form of capitalism is emerging at the threshold of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He asserts that we are in the midst of a transition from democratic capitalism to feudal capitalism and highlights how robotization and innovation is leading to a social crisis for the middle classes as economic inequality is on the rise. Johannessen outlines the three elements – Balkanization, the Great Illusion, and the plutocracy – which are referred to here as feudal structures. He describes, analyzes, and discusses these elements both individually and in interaction with each other, and asks: "What structures and processes are promoting and boosting feudal capitalism?" Additionally, the book serves to generate knowledge about how the middle class will develop in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It shows the various effects of robotization on the middle class, where middle class jobs are transformed, deconstructed, and re-constructed and new part-time jobs are created for the middle class. Given the interest in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the book will appeal to students of economic sociology and political economy as well as those in innovation and knowledge management courses focusing upon the emerging innovation economy. The topic will attract policymakers, and the accessible and engaging tone will also make the book of interest to the general public.
Download or read book Automation Capitalism and the End of the Middle Class written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-18 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, the author argues that a new form of capitalism is emerging at the threshold of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He asserts that we are in the midst of a transition from democratic capitalism to feudal capitalism and highlights how robotization and innovation is leading to a social crisis for the middle classes as economic inequality is on the rise. Johannessen outlines the three elements – Balkanization, the Great Illusion, and the plutocracy – which are referred to here as feudal structures. He describes, analyzes, and discusses these elements both individually and in interaction with each other, and asks: "What structures and processes are promoting and boosting feudal capitalism?" Additionally, the book serves to generate knowledge about how the middle class will develop in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It shows the various effects of robotization on the middle class, where middle class jobs are transformed, deconstructed, and re-constructed and new part-time jobs are created for the middle class. Given the interest in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the book will appeal to students of economic sociology and political economy as well as those in innovation and knowledge management courses focusing upon the emerging innovation economy. The topic will attract policymakers, and the accessible and engaging tone will also make the book of interest to the general public.
Download or read book Capitalists Arise written by Peter Georgescu and published by . This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Georgescu arrived in this country as a penniless Romanian refugee and rose to become the CEO of Young & Rubicam. This is why he's so heartsick that with flat wages, disappearing jobs, and a shrinking middle class, his kind of rags-to-riches story doesn't seem possible now. But he has a message for his fellow CEOs: we're the ones who must take the lead in fixing the economy. Marshaling deeply sobering statistics, Georgescu depicts the stark reality of America today: a nation with greater wealth inequality and lower social mobility than just about any other country in the developed world. But the problem isn't that free-market capitalism no longer works-it's that it's been hijacked by shareholder primacy. Where once our business leaders looked to the needs and interests of a variety of stakeholders-employees, community members, the business itself-now they're myopically focused on maximizing their shareholders' quarterly returns. Capitalists Arise! shows how the short-term thinking spawned by shareholder primacy lies at the root of our current economic malaise and social breakdown. But Georgescu offers concrete actions that capitalists themselves can take to create a better future. The irony is that if businesses do this, shareholders will do even better. In the long run, businesses can thrive only when society is healthy and strong. This book is a manifesto calling on capitalists to heal the nation that has given them so much.
Download or read book Postcapitalism written by Paul Mason and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Originally published in 2015 by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Great Britain"--Title page verso.
Download or read book Feudal Capitalism and the Innovation Economy written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In feudal society, it was the few at the top who laid the ground for what was produced, how it was produced and how it was distributed. Freedom was restricted, and people were kept in their place by institutional structures. In capitalism, the focus is on free markets, free trade, and a personal freedom, where self-interest is assumed to lead to progress for the collective good. In today’s world, there is a move towards algorithmic capitalism at the micro-level, platform capitalism at the meso-level, and feudal capitalism at the macro-level. This is the new and innovative concept developed in this book. The author argues that feudal capitalism is distinct but linked to the innovation economy, and represents an interconnection between the organization of feudal society and central aspects of capitalism. Additionally, he asserts that the balance between feudal capitalism and a reinvented, sustainable capitalism based on the innovation economy, can help restore the moral compass lost in the evolution of global capitalism. The key argument of the book is that even if we see a development towards feudal capitalism, a more just and moral capitalism can be restored through various social mechanisms such as changes in the institutional framework, the development of a balanced form of globalization and re-establishing social cohesion and equality of opportunity. Further, the book offers policy interventions to support this idea. The book will find an audience among scholars and researchers of political economy, political theory, economic history, management, AI and ethics, philosophy and automation, inequality and equality of opportunity
Download or read book Capitalists Arise written by Peter Georgescu and published by . This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Georgescu arrived in this country as a penniless Romanian refugee and rose to become the CEO of Young & Rubicam. This is why he's so heartsick that with flat wages, disappearing jobs, and a shrinking middle class, his kind of rags-to-riches story doesn't seem possible now. But he has a message for his fellow CEOs: we're the ones who must take the lead in fixing the economy. Marshaling deeply sobering statistics, Georgescu depicts the stark reality of America today: a nation with greater wealth inequality and lower social mobility than just about any other country in the developed world. But the problem isn't that free-market capitalism no longer works-it's that it's been hijacked by shareholder primacy. Where once our business leaders looked to the needs and interests of a variety of stakeholders-employees, community members, the business itself-now they're myopically focused on maximizing their shareholders' quarterly returns. Capitalists Arise! shows how the short-term thinking spawned by shareholder primacy lies at the root of our current economic malaise and social breakdown. But Georgescu offers concrete actions that capitalists themselves can take to create a better future. The irony is that if businesses do this, shareholders will do even better. In the long run, businesses can thrive only when society is healthy and strong. This book is a manifesto calling on capitalists to heal the nation that has given them so much.
Download or read book Artificial Intelligence Automation and the Future of Competence at Work written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artificial intelligence and the autonomous robots of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will render certain jobs and competences obsolete but will also create new roles, which in turn require new sets of skills. They will also transform how we produce, distribute and consume, as well as how we think. Rather than a linear understanding of evolutionary processes, we will develop a more interactive and circular interpretation. This book offers a unique and holistic perspective on the future of work in the context of industry 4.0. It discusses the globalization of capital markets, how artificial intelligence can help organizations to be more competitive and the new role of leadership in this technological landscape. The author argues that there are four categories of competences, which will be required in order to maintain the relevance of human skills and expertise in the innovation economy. The new jobs that come into being will lend themselves to a particular set of skills. General competences will be necessary for roles involving the 4Cs of communication, creativity, collaboration and change. Specific or STEM competences will be called for across the science, technology, engineering and mathematics sectors. Human competences will lend themselves to positions comprising the SELC framework of social, emotional, leadership and cultural skills. Critical or REVE competences will be in demand for roles embracing reflection, ethics, values and the environment. The book provides a human-centric view of the current technological advancements of artificial intelligence and robotics and offers a positive outlook for human actors seeking continued relevance. It will appeal to scholars and students of the innovation economy, the knowledge society and the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Download or read book Innovation Automation and a Sustainable Economy written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-04-03 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic inequality, the environmental crisis and the climate crisis are systemically linked. Accordingly, they should be understood as a single, interconnected system and strategies for resolving them should be guided by this understanding. This book demonstrates how the Green New Deal and its systemic alternative, the Red New Deal, could influence the course of these three global crises, all within the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The author has developed several scenarios that are relevant to the automation that will result from advances in artificial intelligence and intelligent robots. The first is one of mass unemployment, while the second envisages low rates of unemployment, although workers will experience stagnation and then a decline in their wages. It is possible to envisage a different set of scenarios; however, we must replace the capitalist economic model with a different model: mutualism, a sustainable model that would allow for economic growth while also addressing the three current systemic crises. The author argues that if such a model is implemented, there will be jobs for everyone and the climate crisis will be tackled because people’s welfare will be prioritized over profit. We can assert that such a model will foster the development of economic equality. The basic premise of this mutual and sustainable economic model is that sustainability is in everyone’s interests. The book employs not only established and innovative methods, such as literature reviews, scenario thinking and historical methods, to underpin its arguments, but also conceptual generalization as an intellectual tool to tackle the general research problem; thus, it will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students of sustainability and the innovation economy.
Download or read book The Fourth Industrial Revolution written by Klaus Schwab and published by Currency. This book was released on 2017-01-03 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolution, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wearable sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manufacturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individuals. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frameworks that advance progress.
Download or read book The New Middle Class and Democracy in Global Perspective written by R. Glassman and published by Springer. This book was released on 1997-06-03 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High technology capitalism utilizes computers, robots, and global information networks. It has engendered new classes - technocrats, bureaucrats, service and office workers - who will impact the structure and values of society. The question most central for us is that of the survival of democracy on this new base. Will the New Middle Class become the carrying class for a modern form of democracy utilizing the sophisticated communications technology, or will democracy decline under the weight of the managerial and technocratic strata essential to the functioning of the modern economic and political institutions?
Download or read book Capitalism and Automation written by Ramin Ramtin and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 1991 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Systemic Approach to Continuous Change in the Innovation Economy written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unpredictable and unforeseen, or black swan, events are occurring increasingly often, one such recent example is the coronavirus crisis of 2020. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, with its growing use of artificial intelligence, intelligent robots, intelligent informats and intelligent algorithms, may help us to confront these incidents but only if we can avoid the sector optimization logic of some forms of economic thinking. This book offers a multi-faceted presentation of the application of systemic thinking in non-standard situations, especially those created by the fourth industrial revolution. It develops models and mini theories to promote systemic thinking at a time when cascades of innovations are entering the economy, while at the same time black swan events are occurring and disrupting social systems. It takes a critical look at how organizations and social systems have chosen to organize themselves to develop systems that prioritize high performance, by focusing on cost-cutting and maximizing profits, instead of on preparedness elasticity and resource slack. The consequences of this kind of organizational streamlining becomes evident only when the ‘black swans’ loom. The author discusses how individuals and society can develop the resilience needed to deal with these incidents. He asserts that there are three central social mechanisms that can help us understand how social systems work and how they are interconnected: time-lag, threshold value, and feedback. These three concepts can help us to understand how changes occur in non-linear systems; for instance, how small changes at the micro level can lead to large changes at the macro level. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of economics, finance, business and industry.
Download or read book Creativity Innovation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution written by Jon-Arild Johannessen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-10-10 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most important goals for an organization in the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be innovation and enhanced performance. Creativity is a means for promoting these goals – a creative person is a productive person who uses all their resources to attain specific goals. Da Vinci Creativity should be understood as being focused on improving performance both at individual and organizational levels. Traditional organizations can be hierarchical, and thus rigid, at a time when the external environment is undergoing very rapid change. The aim of this book is to present an organizational model that develops leaders who are able to cope with the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In light of the increasing levels of innovation being experienced in society around us, Creativity, Innovation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The da Vinci Strategy offers an organizational theory that can be applied in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of leadership, strategy, and technology and innovation management.
Download or read book The Technology Trap written by Carl Benedikt Frey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Made me look at the industrial revolution, invention, sleeping beauties, contexts and the forces that shape our societies differently."—David Byrne, New York Times Book Review How the history of technological revolutions can help us better understand economic and political polarization in the age of automation From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members. As Carl Benedikt Frey shows, the Industrial Revolution created unprecedented wealth and prosperity over the long run, but the immediate consequences of mechanization were devastating for large swaths of the population. Middle-income jobs withered, wages stagnated, the labor share of income fell, profits surged, and economic inequality skyrocketed. These trends, Frey documents, broadly mirror those in our current age of automation, which began with the Computer Revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution eventually brought about extraordinary benefits for society, artificial intelligence systems have the potential to do the same. But Frey argues that this depends on how the short term is managed. In the nineteenth century, workers violently expressed their concerns over machines taking their jobs. The Luddite uprisings joined a long wave of machinery riots that swept across Europe and China. Today’s despairing middle class has not resorted to physical force, but their frustration has led to rising populism and the increasing fragmentation of society. As middle-class jobs continue to come under pressure, there’s no assurance that positive attitudes to technology will persist. The Industrial Revolution was a defining moment in history, but few grasped its enormous consequences at the time. The Technology Trap demonstrates that in the midst of another technological revolution, the lessons of the past can help us to more effectively face the present.
Download or read book What Drives China s Economy written by Qing-Ping Ma and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spectacular economic growth experienced by China since 1978 has often been hailed as the "China Miracle". Many economists have tried to understand the forces behind China’s phenomenal growth and the explanations can be divided into two broad schools of economic thought — one school of thought which includes Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman explains that market mechanism and deregulation led to China’s success, while the other school of thought which include Justin Yifu Lin, the former Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank, explains that China’s growth miracle is a unique model to itself defined by the Chinese government’s prominent role. The Chinese government has been responsible in identifying and investing in industries that have contributed to economic growth. Some economists in the latter school even claim that the China Miracle cannot be explained by mainstream economics. This book examines both schools of thought and attempts to provide a synthesis of the two schools to explain the China Miracle. It looks at the Solow-Swan growth model, the Harrod-Domar model and transaction cost theory. It provides insights into whether and how China can sustain its growth and how developing countries may replicate China’s success.
Download or read book Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads written by Carles Boix and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incisive history of the changing relationship between democracy and capitalism The twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democratic capitalism in the industrialized West, with widespread popular support for both free markets and representative elections. Today, that political consensus appears to be breaking down, disrupted by polarization and income inequality, widespread dissatisfaction with democratic institutions, and insurgent populism. Tracing the history of democratic capitalism over the past two centuries, Carles Boix explains how we got here—and where we could be headed. Boix looks at three defining stages of capitalism, each originating in a distinct time and place with its unique political challenges, structure of production and employment, and relationship with democracy. He begins in nineteenth-century Manchester, where factory owners employed unskilled laborers at low wages, generating rampant inequality and a restrictive electoral franchise. He then moves to Detroit in the early 1900s, where the invention of the modern assembly line shifted labor demand to skilled blue-collar workers. Boix shows how growing wages, declining inequality, and an expanding middle class enabled democratic capitalism to flourish. Today, however, the information revolution that began in Silicon Valley in the 1970s is benefitting the highly educated at the expense of the traditional working class, jobs are going offshore, and inequality has risen sharply, making many wonder whether democracy and capitalism are still compatible. Essential reading for these uncertain times, Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads proposes sensible policy solutions that can help harness the unruly forces of capitalism to preserve democracy and meet the challenges that lie ahead.
Download or read book Environmentally Sustainable Industrial Development in China written by Yanqing Jiang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing concern among Chinese researchers and policymakers about China’s industrial development being unsustainable and the irreversible depletion of natural resources and deterioration of the ecological environment. The relationship between industrial development, pollution and the environmental quality is an important issue that deserves careful study. Environmental considerations play a crucial role in shaping China’s development strategies. Green development of China creates strong pressures for continuous transforming, upgrading and restructuring of the Chinese economy. This book explores how China’s industrial development relates to pollution and environmental quality, and how considerations about such issues associated with the ecological system affect China’s development strategies.
