Humans and machines at work; Monitoring, surveillance and automation in contemporary capitalism P. Moore, M. Upchurch, and X. Whittaker (2018), Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 253 pages. Price, £89.99

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Author: Victor Oyaro Gekara
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12136
• Date: 01 November 2019

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New Technology, Work and Employment 34:3

ISSN 0268-1072

Review Article

Humans and machines at work; Monitoring, surveillance and automation in

contemporary capitalism

P. Moore, M. Upchurch, and X. Whittaker (2018), Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave

Macmillan. 253 pages. Price, £89.99

Introduction

Debates about changing workplace technologies, their inuence on the changes

in the nature and texture of work, as well as the occupational and employment

impact on workers are not new. They, however, seem to have greatly intensied

in recent years. This is largely because of the vigour with which new technol-

ogies have entered the market, as well as the increasing levels of sophistication,

which introduces new and increased concerns both in policy and industry. As

growing research shows that, unlike the situation prior to the 1960s, the effect

of the new technologies developed and implemented post- 1990s is signicant

with transformations of occupations, job roles and entire industries (Acemoglu

and Robinson, 2012; Mokyr et al., 2015; Verme et al., 2016). The discussion is,

therefore, no longer just about such considerations as de- skilling the workforce

(Braveman, 1974), but rather, a total transformation of existing skills and ren-

dering entire occupational skills redundant (Jaimovich and Siu, 2012; Charles

et al., 2013). Understandably, therefore, there are heightened socio- economic anx-

ieties about traditional industries disappearing, articial intelligence, smart robotics

and digitalisation displacing large numbers of workers (Frey and Osborne, 2013;

Ford, 2015). At political and policy levels, there are growing concerns regarding

growing unemployment, and the collapse of the positive loop of production,

when not enough people are earning enough to maintain the essential purchasing

power (Pulkka, 2017).

Proponents of work automation trends counter these concerns with the argument

that advanced technologies will create new, safer and cleaner jobs, but also that

they will enhance the productivity of workers and increase overall economic pros-

perity (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014; Autor, 2015). Other, more cautious com-

mentators, however, present evidence that, while new jobs are created, there are

signicant kind and scale differences, and important questions regarding access

to, and quality of, work in the emerging context of work (Acemoglu and Robinson,

2012; Frey and Osborne, 2013; Ford, 2015).

This book is not just an important contribution to these debates, but signif-

icantly so because of its concrete differentiation in perspective. As suggested

above, the large majority of recent research has focused on issues related to

occupational vulnerability and technological unemployment (Frey and Osborne,

2013; Ford, 2015), implications for workforce skills (e.g. Acemoglu and Autor,

2011; Collet et al., 2015; Bessen, 2016; Foley et al., 2018; Gekara and Thanh

Nguyen, 2018) and gig work and employment precarity (Barley et al., 2017;

Gandini, 2018). The question of technology enabled monitoring and surveillance

in the workplace and the implications for the nature and experience of work

is, however, seldomly addressed. The chapter examines increasing concerns

regarding the associated worker exploitation and increased stress and anxiety

at work.

New Technology, Work and Employment © 2019 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.