 AutomationLarry Liu Chapter 3 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Business and Government, 2026, pp 12-16 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: Automation is about the replacement of labor tasks and jobs via technology and this topic has been extensively researched in the social science literature, covering history, economics, politics and sociology. The history of automation researches the shift from agricultural to industrial society, the social struggles during various periods of technology adoption and the discourses of automation. The economics of automation researches the capitalist allocation of resources between labor and technology including the debate on technological unemployment and inequality between workers. The politics of automation researches the state involvement in automation adoption, the popular legitimacy of automation, state responses to automation and desirable political futures as automation is improving. The sociology of automation researches how humans, organizations and societal norms are shaping technological adoption, and studies worker resistance to and navigation of automation. This entry concludes with some recommendations on future research in automation. Keywords: Automation; Technological change; Artificial intelligence; Labor; Work; Human-machine integration (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22116_3 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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