Digitization And Work: Potentials and Challenges in Low-Wage Labor Markets

Professor Saskia Sassen discusses the need to develop social categories and logics for understanding technology. This is necessary if we are to understand the inner processes of digital technology and their social implications. Sassen also highlights that access to digital technologies is determined by differing levels of power and this creates a divide between the digital formations of the powerful and those of the powerless. Sassen goes on to demonstrate how digitization can enhance the work life of low-income workers by addressing the specific needs of these workers.

This talk was recorded at the Oxford University Digital Transformations of Work Conference as part of Green Templeton College’s Future of Work Programme. This event brought together leading experts on work, employment and labour markets to discuss how the internet and digital platforms are transforming the world of work. It took place at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, on 10 March 2016.