Automation and the Present of Work: Interrogating the Discourse of Decline

Abstract Much popular discourse on automation is deterministic, engages at only a high level of abstraction, and assumes that technologies are neutral and autonomous rather than socially shaped. This popular discourse blames technology for worsening working conditions. A critique of this ‘automation discourse’ by Aaron Benanav maintains that low-paid work is growing not due to technology, but because of manufacturing overcapacity and underinvestment, which ruined capitalism’s growth engine. Similarly, Jason Smith argues that the growth of low-waged service work indicates terminal stagnation. So called ‘smart machines’ have failed to deliver on their promised productivity gains. This article interrogates the foundations of these theses in Robert Brenner’s work. I argue that these approaches misdiagnose the problem, replacing technological determinism with economic determinism. Further, they misinterpret the recomposition of global capitalism and labour institutions while neglecting class struggle. I then question what the global rise of services, the institutional decoupling of productivity and wage gains, and AI -driven technologies mean for the present of work. Is global competition responsible for the stagnation of capitalist growth or something else? Are services inherently doomed to low wages? By addressing these questions through class antagonisms, this article offers an account of the present and future of work that is neither technologically nor economically determinist.