Browsing by Author "Laakso, Tapio"

Since the Great Depression of 1930s technological unemployment debates have re-emerged every 20 years. This thesis examines the automation debates in Finland in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and again in the mid-1990s. The aim is to understand, why the debate re-emerges and what is the nature of the debate? The sources of the study consists of articles published in 1977–1999 in Helsingin Sanomat. Newspaper articles are complemented with other documents referred to by Helsingin Sanomat. Text analysis is used to study the documents and emerging narratives are incorporated with international context. A public debate on technological unemployment begins in situations where high unemployment combines with technological revolution. Automation anxiety was especially caused by the penetration of automation into new sectors of the economy. Technological unemployment has served as a tool for political mobilization calling for solutions to threats from new technology. In this work these solutions are referred as mediation mechanisms of technological change. Reducing working hours, education and redefining the concept of work are examples of these mediation mechanisms that emerged in the debate. The recurrence of the automation debate tells about the dynamics of techno-economic development, adaptation to change, and the production of new socio-institutional structures. From this point of view ‘the end of work’ or the threat of mass unemployment do not appear as false predictions but as arguments for required and necessary mediation mechanisms of technological change. Technological unemployment is a potential consequence of political choices and development of the society.