Who's afraid of the big bad robot? Technological unemployment and support for automatization in USA

• In Event: 3267 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. New Technologies & Inequality

Abstract

In recent years there has been increasing social concern about the impact of automation on labor market outcomes, a phenomenon known as technological unemployment. Specific concerns revolve around the decline in wages and the increase in unemployment in routine-predominant occupations. This study aims to understand the correlates of perceptions of job loss and wage loss due to computerization, perceptions about the effect of new technologies on the workplace, and the beliefs about job creation and social inequalities as their consequence. We conducted a secondary data analysis of the 2017 Pew Research Center American Trends Panel. The survey was administered in the U.S. in Spanish and English (n=4135). Results indicate that 4.6% of respondents believed they had suffered from technological unemployment or under-employment, and 16% thought that technology had a negative impact on their job. A quarter of the respondents indicated that they believed the economy would create new, better paying jobs and 78% predicted that the inequality between rich and poor would increase in the future as a result of the introduction of new technologies. Multivariate regression analyses showed that age, gender, education and income had an effect on more optimistic views on technology. Furthermore, technological unemployment and the negative effects of computerization were associated with having poorly paid jobs and working in the transportation industry. In contrast, those in managerial and data analysis jobs were more positive about the role of technology in their current and future work life, similar to those who believed that technology increased their career opportunities and made their work less demanding. Findings provide evidence for the self-interest hypothesis concerning fear of robots, and the strengthening of socioeconomic divisions and social fears as its consequence. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Authors

• Matias Dodel, Universidad Catolica del Uruguay

• Gustavo S. Mesch, University of Haifa