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

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.