91
1. The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 1 July 25, 2018
from my tech news roundup:
This is a really excellent meditation on two contrasting perspectives on the role that technology plays in rising inequality. First, we have the mainstream approach, nicely summarised by the concept of skills-biased technological change: assuming “reasonably efficient markets”, technology stratifies workers by technological skill, and allows those who are more productive to reap more of the rewards. The critical approach, on the other hand, sees markets as always “pervaded by power”, and thus skewed in ways that are never neutral; technology is always deployed on uneven terrain, and its effects can only be properly understand by looking at bargaining power and class interests.
This blog post is essentially an exegesis of the first approach, and it’s well worth reading to understand 1) why the mainstream view is so popular; and 2) what that view is missing. Summarised neatly in the last paragraph:
So, the fundamental problem of the leading mainstream view is that it takes both markets and technology as having a more-or-less natural and necessary shape, and fails to see how institutions shape both markets and technology in ways that can reinforce or moderate patterns of inequality.
0
/
3
1
The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 1
from my tech news roundup:
This is a really excellent meditation on two contrasting perspectives on the role that technology plays in rising inequality. First, we have the mainstream approach, nicely summarised by the concept of skills-biased technological change: assuming “reasonably efficient markets”, technology stratifies workers by technological skill, and allows those who are more productive to reap more of the rewards. The critical approach, on the other hand, sees markets as always “pervaded by power”, and thus skewed in ways that are never neutral; technology is always deployed on uneven terrain, and its effects can only be properly understand by looking at bargaining power and class interests.
This blog post is essentially an exegesis of the first approach, and it’s well worth reading to understand 1) why the mainstream view is so popular; and 2) what that view is missing. Summarised neatly in the last paragraph:
0 / 3So, the fundamental problem of the leading mainstream view is that it takes both markets and technology as having a more-or-less natural and necessary shape, and fails to see how institutions shape both markets and technology in ways that can reinforce or moderate patterns of inequality.
The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 2 July 26, 2018
lamenting how tech is either treated too optimistically, or ignored (by left-leaning academics)
0
/
3
1
The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 2
lamenting how tech is either treated too optimistically, or ignored (by left-leaning academics)
0 / 3The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 3 July 28, 2018
really long overview of why it's important to understand the intersection of tech & pol econ. touches on DSA and the new american left lacking a coherent explanation of capitalism
0
/
1
1
The Role of Technology in Political Economy: Part 3
really long overview of why it's important to understand the intersection of tech & pol econ. touches on DSA and the new american left lacking a coherent explanation of capitalism
0 / 1