ABSTRACT
This chapter is organised into two sections. In section 2.1, I briefly consider the trajectories of the First Industrial Revolution; the Second Industrial Revolution; and the Third Industrial Revolution, before moving on to the specific features of the Fourth (4IR), the fusion of technologies that is blurring lines between the physical, the digital and the biological. I then address the arguments of Klaus Schwab, the founder (in 1971) and Executive Chairman (sic) of the World Economic Forum, that 4IR is a progressive capitalist force. I go to examine Schwab’s nod to both Trump’s nationalist populism and to Greta Thunberg and climate change. In section 2.2, the case is made that these pro-capitalist public pedagogies fail to address the reality of what is actually occurring and likely to occur in the immediate and long-term future. I present a Marxist critique of 4IR. The explanatory power of Marxist critiques of capitalism is that they are structural and systemic and point to historical processes and trends that over-ride in significance the seemingly progressive public pedagogies of individual supporters of capitalism and their apologists, however benign their intentions. In the course of the chapter, I consider Marx and his conception of value theory and technology that encompasses the tendency of the profit to fall. This has the potential to create ongoing and intensifying crises for capitalism as technological innovations advance. I move on to an analysis of 4IR and gender, arguing that the Fourth Industrial Revolution exacerbates gender inequality. I conclude the chapter with a look at Amazonization, at how Amazon micromanages, exploits and diminishes its workforce; at the role of Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant; at the way Amazon is transforming the public into mini-entrepreneurs; and at the high-tech surveillance by the state facilitated by companies such as Amazon. I conclude Chapter 2 with a look at how Amazon workers are fighting back.
