The impact of technological innovation on occupational insertion: a case study in Brazil

Abstract

AbstractThis article (Special thanks to the editors of Discover Global Society magazine, Dr. Rajendra Baikady and Dr. Akshay Dhavale, and the anonymous referees for the article) analyzes the impact of technological innovation on occupational integration, using Brazil as a case study. The Brazilian example is evaluated as an illustration of how change promoted by innovation occurs, as well as its effects and consequences for individuals, positions, and occupations. The old and feared possibility of replacing humans with machines is discussed in light of the renewed fear caused by recent developments in artificial intelligence and how they may impact employment in different parts of the world. The study uses cohort analyses, occupational classes, and their respective productive sectors to provide empirical evidence for its arguments. Based on a historical-statistical analysis of a given social space, the study defends the hypothesis that the change resulting from technological innovation in the way goods and services are produced has not increased unemployment. However, it did contribute to the decline of the old middle class and the rise of a new middle class. It was not rural and urban workers who were replaced by machines. Instead, rural and urban smallholders found it difficult to compete with larger organizations that had already established themselves as modern enterprises. These former self-employed or smallholders with few employees changed occupations, and this trend was reproduced in the new generation, leading to a decline in the number of petty bourgeoisie and a concomitant increase in the occupational class called non-manual routine workers.