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Position to Old Social Classes
…the genesis of new social classes will induce new types of relationships between all social classes, and thus their relative repositioning…
Data Capitalists and Data Workers: One or Two New Social Classes?
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Data workers often rapidly become data owners (and so, data capitalists), thanks in part to the economic mechanism of innovation. This is the result of either technological innovation or business innovation, both of which are related to the use of data. Data capitalists and the data working class are thus engaged in a process of osmosis.
…Data is produced simply by allowing digital devices to monitor processes, people, or even the environment. The more data available, the more value it can have. …It is helpful to have the electrocardiograms (ECGs) of two patients during a one-month clinical trial of a new drug. …. There is virtually no additional cost for the additional data thus generated…If we have those electrocardiograms for two or even three months, that is even more useful. If we have the electrocardiograms of hundreds of patients, that is more useful still. This data is produced almost without added effort or cost…
Those who collect data (the data working class) sometimes have as much access to it as their employer’s shareholders (the true data owners) – sometimes more. As such, they often gain more insight: namely, the true value of the entire process, which is equally accessible to both the data worker and data capitalist.
​…Data is produced simply by allowing digital devices to monitor processes, people, or even the environment. The more data available, the more value it can have. …It is helpful to have the electrocardiograms (ECGs) of two patients during a one-month clinical trial of a new drug. …. There is virtually no additional cost for the additional data thus generated…If we have those electrocardiograms for two or even three months, that is even more useful. If we have the electrocardiograms of hundreds of patients, that is more useful still. This data is produced almost without added effort or cost…
Capitalists and the Knowledge Working Class: The Innovation Link
Given the ‘knowledge working class’, as we may call them, create economic value from knowledge – or more specifically, data – we can assume that it is generally converging with that of the capitalist class. You can see this visually, in the diagram below. The convergence is occurring because knowledge workers are continually developing tools to make labor more efficient and considerably faster than before, in many cases replacing labor altogether. This work, in turn, empowers the capitalist class. The labor of knowledge workers, which is realised via technological innovation, reduces the need for human labor and thus imperils the livelihoods of the traditional working class.
As the diagram illustrates, the knowledge working class and the capitalist class converge because of innovation. Data workers and data capitalists enter into an osmotic relationship due to data’s mobility and its feature of shared ownership.
The Knowledge Working Class and the Traditional Working Class: The Great Divide
With the emergence of data capital as a production factor, there is no indication this change favors members of the traditional working class who have no knowledge-working or data-working capabilities. What is new, however, is the clear emergence of the knowledge working class, and the increasing distance between it and the traditional working class.
…it has much to do with a lack of mutual comprehension, a common communication language, and trust between the two classes...
The role of innovation in the process of distancing social classes from one another is straightforward. Without the intense innovation of our Age of Data (and without the data itself) the complexification of products, services, and value chains would never have reached the levels we observe today. Innovation, both within business and technology, and complexification are creating a gulf between classes
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An increase in distancing also occurs between different geographical areas and within the same geographical space. The concentration of knowledge workers in ecosystems renders geographical distancing a cause of social class distancing; it happens between areas dominated by a traditional working-class and other geographical areas with a more substantial proportion of knowledge workers.
For the daughters and the sons of farmers, in a geographical area far removed from the aforementioned ecosystems, in countries such as Syria or Iraq for instance, leaving behind their familiar social fabric and their families is an experience even harsher to endure than the nigh impossible financial costs of relocation. Living in different areas of the globe logically creates differing local references, which can be political, cultural, or societal. These different references promote a lack of trust, and this drives further distancing between different social classes located in different regions of the world.
Data Workers and the Traditional Working Class: The Even Greater Divide
New and previously unimaginable business models have appeared, all enabled by access to massive amounts of data. Their opaqueness, in some cases, is certainly deliberate: a calculated ploy enabling the unscrupulous to prey on unsuspecting individuals and organizations that do not grasp the depth and reach of our new, data-based economy or its risks. Even if there were transparency in their business practises, the exponentially increasing complexity of the economy makes it extremely difficult for the average person to understand, which includes much of the traditional working class. Therefore, the same lack of transparency remains, which erodes trust.
Further, when innovation makes a large number of individuals redundant simultaneously and very rapidly, some turn to the promise of knowledge-based jobs while many others fight to secure jobs that require fewer qualifications and thus lower wages – a fight that they will “win,” but only if they are lucky.
The remaining members of the traditional working class have lost much of their negotiating power since the overall number of jobs available to them has shrunk.
Today, however, automation and digital technologies are also eating into service work; in some cases even into knowledge work. Many of us can remember waiting at the counter in a bank to withdraw cash; the teller across the counter counting the notes. First ATMs and then e-banking replaced these tellers. Truck drivers are still around. But the shift to autonomous vehicles will most probably eat into their jobs too. We still see law enforcement officers on our streets. But intelligent cameras are beginning to do parts of their job for them. Civil engineering works inspectors identify failure points in bridges and tunnels. Sensors are replacing them today. And these examples only involve the more traditional service sector jobs. Today, advanced algorithms “automate” much of the work a young legal professional would have been doing 10 years ago, searching jurisprudence. Artificial intelligence contributes considerably to medical diagnosis. And teaching is increasingly moving to a remote model typified by MOOCs