New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

Craig Gent, "Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work" (Verso, 2024)

Aug 13, 2024

Craig Gent, an author exploring algorithmic management's impact on the workforce, dives into the transformative power of technology in workplaces. He discusses how algorithms monitor and control workers, revealing the resulting exploitation and worker anxieties. Gent traces the evolution of management strategies from the early 20th century and highlights the need for a humanistic approach. He also shares inspiring stories of workers resisting digital control, advocating for dignity and solidarity in their struggles against oppressive systems.

56:05

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Craig Gent

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Quick takeaways

Algorithmic management is fundamentally reshaping workplace dynamics, often leading to dehumanization and an erosion of personal agency among workers.

Despite the challenges of algorithmic oversight, workers are innovating resistance tactics that foster solidarity and demand dignity in their labor conditions.

Deep dives

The Role of Algorithmic Management in Modern Work

Algorithmic management refers to the application of algorithmic technologies to monitor and control workers, significantly reshaping the dynamics within various industries. Workers often interact with algorithms through tools such as wearable devices and tracking apps that gauge their productivity in real-time. For example, an employee in a distribution center may rely on a scanner to manage tasks, which simultaneously collects data on their performance, thus influencing their future job security. This method of managing labor not only streamlines operations but also alters the fundamental nature of work, raising concerns about dehumanization and the erosion of personal agency in the workplace.

Intro

2min

Navigating Algorithmic Workplaces

18min

The Evolution of Management and Worker Dynamics

2min

The Evolution of Labor Management

19min

Subverting Algorithmic Control: Workers' Strategies and METIS

4min

Workers' Resistance in the Age of Algorithms

8min

Across the world, algorithms are changing the nature of work. Nowhere is this clearer than in the logistics and distribution sectors, where workers are instructed, tracked and monitored by increasingly dystopian management technologies.

In Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work (Verso, 2024), Craig Gent takes us into workplaces where algorithms rule to excavate the politics behind the newest form of managerial power. Combining worker testimony and original research on companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Deliveroo, the cutting edge of algorithmic management technology, this book reveals the sometimes unexpected effects these new techniques have on work, workers and managers. Gent advances an alternative politics of resistance in the face of digital control.

Louisa Hann attained a PhD in English and American studies from the University of Manchester in 2021, specialising in the political economy of HIV/AIDS theatres.

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