Mich "Are tech-lumpenproletarians dominated?"

CHAIRE HOOVER Louvain-La-Neuve

17 mai 2022

12h45 - 14h00

Mardi intime de la Chaire Hoover par Juan Olano

Are tech-lumpenproletarians dominated?

“Tech-lumpenproletariat” refers to the mass of chronically unemployed people displaced from the labour market by automation. Such can be the situation of cashiers in the case of self-checkout machines or taxi drivers in the case of automated vehicles. In this article, I will argue that tech-lumpenproletarians are not necessarily dominated, relationally nor structurally, since they are not under the power of others. This poses a problem for non-domination theories, since they cannot correctly diagnose the unjust situation of tech-lumpenproletarians. I conclude that non-domination theories are ill-equipped to face this increasingly important challenge.