"ROBOTIZATION" AND "LABOR DOWNGRADING" - BASED ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND WORKERS IN CHINA

Abstract

In recent years, against the background of the disappearing "Demographic dividend" and "Labor Shortage," "Robotization" has started to be carried out in various parts of China. Robots benefit China's manufacturing industry by achieving a "technology dividend" instead of a "demographic dividend." However, are Chinese workers benefiting from this technological transformation and upgrading? By examining two different types of manufacturing industries in China's Province S, this paper uses Marxist analysis to reveal the reality that "Robotization" has led to the "de-skilling" of workers and further exacerbated "labor degradation." Workers not only find it challenging to improve their skills in the "machine change" but are also further subject to the remote control of machines and capital. Therefore, protecting workers' rights and interests and making workers truly the masters of machines are the top priorities in the wave of "Robotization".