A fourth industrial revolution? Digital transformation, labor and work organization: a view from Spain

Francisco Braña ()

Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 2019, vol. 46, issue 3, No 9, 415-430

Abstract: Abstract The paper offers an overview of how the process of technological innovation known as digitization affects the capitalist production mode and its relations of production, particularly in Spain, based on a review of the bibliography and the statistical sources available. The gradual appearance or development, since the last quarter of the last century, of a set of information and communication technologies, which allow the hybridization between the physical and the digital world, erasing the borders between both worlds, has led to talk of Industry 4.0 also called “the fourth industrial revolution”. After this supposed revolution, there would be a digital revolution. Though is paradoxical that, since the 1980s, in Europe the industry continues to lose weight in the economy as a whole, in employment and participation in Gross Value Added. The paper reviews the effects of digitalization and automation on employment and working conditions, in particular polarization, changes in employment shares across occupations, and jobs at risk, with some emphasis in the Spanish case. In the last section the paper intends to answer the question whether there is a progressive industrial policy feasible.

Keywords: Digital revolution; Industrial revolution; Industry 4.0; Labor; Employment and Work organization; Industrial policy; O33; O25; L50; J21; J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40812-019-00122-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:epolin:v:46:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s40812-019-00122-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40812

DOI: 10.1007/s40812-019-00122-0

Access Statistics for this article

Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics is currently edited by C. Cambini, M.G. Colombo, L. Piscitello, L. Rondi and A. Zanfei

More articles in Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics from Springer, Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().