Dear Colleagues,
<br>we're organizing a panel at this year's Swiss Sociological Association in
<br>September on the topic "Digitalized Work and Social Emancipation". If you're
<br>interested in the subject, we would be happy to receive your abstract at
<br>simon.schaupp@unibas.ch or
<br>philipp.frey@partner.kit.edu by
<br>20.04.2019 (maximum of 2000 characters, including spaces).
<br>All the best,
<br>Simon Schaupp and Philipp Frey
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
<br>
<br>The future of work in current discussions is most intrinsically connected to
<br>questions related to the power effects of digitalization. The current wave of
<br>digitalization does not only bring about significant transformations in the
<br>organization of work, but raises critical issues of social justice in highly
<br>technologized societies at large. In this workshop, we invite contributions
<br>with an analytical focus on the connections between digitalized industries and
<br>social emancipation.
<br>
<br>The idea of social emancipation through new technologies has been a recurring
<br>theme in STS scholarship. Networked, digital fabrication technologies like 3D
<br>printing were hailed as an empowerment of grassroots level "produsers" and
<br>open source communities. Networked communication technologies, coupled with
<br>the ubiquity of private computers were seen as a material precondition for
<br>flat hierarchies. More recently, advances in medical technology sparked hopes
<br>of body modification as enabling free development of the subjects beyond the
<br>restrictions of dominant body norms.
<br>
<br>This workshop aims to critically examine this emancipatory potential of the
<br>digital transformation. We welcome papers that situate the digitalization of
<br>work in larger social contexts.
<br>
<br>The following questions could be posed, among others:
<br>
<br>If most digital technology is produced in social contexts of domination, is
<br>this domination inscribed into them, or can they be used for emancipatory
<br>purposes as well? What does the increasing inclusion of computer-enabled
<br>organizational decentralization (e.g. Open Innovation) into capital
<br>accumulation mean for alternative forms of organizing? What is the reality of
<br>the widespread automation of tasks across employment sectors? How could the
<br>redistribution of automation's productivity gains be utilized to reshape
<br>employment regimes and work organization in the future? How do digitally
<br>enabled forms of mass customization affect body representation in the
<br>production of medical- and consumer goods? Can such technologies be
<br>appropriated by user communities to upend the ways such goods are produced?
<br>
<br>We base these questions on a broad understanding of emancipation as the
<br>elimination or reduction of domination on different levels, such as gender,
<br>class, ethnicity or (dis)ability. Analysis at the intersection of these
<br>categories are especially welcome. We welcome empirical, historical, as well
<br>as theoretical analysis.
<br>
<br>
<br>https://www.unine.ch/socio/home/congress-ssasgssss-2019/call-for-abstracts.ht
<br>ml
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