Automation and Extraction. Shifting (In)Visibilities at New Technological Frontiers: An Introduction

Abstract Coined as Industry 4.0, innovations in automation are portrayed as heralding a new era of change and possibility amid the climate crisis and resource depletion. As research fields, however, the domain of automation and that of extraction are often studied in isolation and within different research traditions. With this special issue, we bring these research fields into dialogue by exploring the mutual reinforcements of automation and extraction in altering work life, the environment, and ways of relating to the material world. By emphasizing how current technologies enable relocations of work functions and decision making, design and representation, our introduction provides a basis for understanding automation and extraction as interconnected and discusses the empirical rationale and conceptual possibilities of understanding these interconnections. We explore how automation and digitalization are facilitating an expansion of domains for value extraction, in a broad sense, by making visible otherwise inaccessible domains and areas of life, while simultaneously placing other aspects out of sight.