Technological unemployment and productive forces: development parallels
The paper investigates the implicit cause-and-effect relationship between the development of productive forces and "technological unemployment" and, while doing so, it probes a series of questions: the conflict between the machine and man; the difference between capitalist and socialist views on the STR; the views of domestic and foreign economists on solving the problem of technological unemployment. In the capitalist mode of production, a "selective" approach to the introduction of machines into production processes can lead to ambiguous consequences for members of the working class. One such consequence is a reduction in the number of productive workers employed after the introduction of machinery and, consequently, an increase in the level of "technological unemployment." In the final part of the paper, the author discusses compensatory mechanisms suggested for the alleviation of the negative effects of technological unemployment: the creation of additional jobs in the production sector; new investment and lower prices; lower wages; higher incomes of workers; new products. He points to the approximate and speculative nature of these proposed measures given that they ignore the specific context of time and the economy.