THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, a sociological critique

172pp., colour illus., paperback, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2021

ISBN: 9781431431557

A collection of papers on the disruptive impact of the new 4IR technologies and the 'digital divide' on societies, particularly in the Global South.

Contributions include:

"Why does the Davos World Economic Forum proclaim the second phase of the post-1970s Third Capitalist Industrial Revolution as the '4IR'?" by David Cooper

"Long-run global perspectives on evolution, revolution and innovation in South Africa's development" by Rasigan Maharajh

"Botched technological revolutions and the South African proletariat" by Mondli Hlatshwayo

"Fourth Industrial Revolution challenges to labour: COSATU's perspective" by Zingiswa Losi. 

Trevor Ngwane is a senior lecturer and the Director of the Centre for Sociological Research and Practice at the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements, and co-editor (with Immanuel Ness and Luke Sinwell) of Urban Revolt: State Power and the Rise of People’s Movements in the Global South. He is currently President of the South African Sociological Association.

Malehoko Tshoaedi is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. She is co-editor (with Andries Bezuidenhout) of Labour Beyond Cosatu: Mapping the Rupture in South Africa’s Labour Landscape and co-editor (with Sakhela Buhlungu) of COSATU’s Contested Legacy: South African Trade Unions in the Second Decade of Democracy.