The Quantified Worker
Law and Technology in the Modern Workplace

This book argues that technological developments in the workplace have 'quantified' the modern worker to the detriment of social equality.

Ifeoma Ajunwa (Author)

9781107186033, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 May 2023

250 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 3 cm, 0.84 kg

'The surveillance and quantification of workers is a critical issue of our time. This much-needed book details how these technologies erode labor rights and encode discrimination, and it's powerful evidence for why we need worker coalitions and strong legal protections.' Kate Crawford, USC Annenberg, author of Atlas of AI

The information revolution has ushered in a data-driven reorganization of the workplace. Big data and AI are used to surveil workers and shift risk. Workplace wellness programs appraise our health. Personality job tests calibrate our mental state. The monitoring of social media and surveillance of the workplace measure our social behavior. With rich historical sources and contemporary examples, The Quantified Worker explores how the workforce science of today goes far beyond increasing efficiency and threatens to erase individual personhood. With exhaustive detail, Ifeoma Ajunwa shows how different forms of worker quantification are enabled, facilitated, and driven by technological advances. Timely and eye-opening, The Quantified Worker advocates for changes in the law that will mitigate the ill effects of the modern workplace.

Part I. The Ideology of Worker Quantification: 1. The Rise of Scientific Management
2. Socio-Legal Responses to Scientific Management
Part II. The Mechanical Managers: 3. Automated Hiring and Discrimination
4. Personality Job Tests
5. Automated Video Interviews
6. The Unbounded Workplace and Worker Surveillance
7. Workplace Wellness Programs
8. Telecommuting and Health Surveillance in the Covid-19 Era
Part III. Quantified Discrimination: 9. Wearable Tech: The Quantified Self at Work
10. Quantified Racism
Part IV. Business Ethics and New Legal Frameworks: 11. The Ethical Dimensions of Worker Quantification
12. Regulating Mechanical Managers
Conclusion: Imagining a Better Future for Workers.

Subject Areas: Medical & healthcare law [LNTM], Employment & labour law [LNH], Office & workplace [KJW], Management & management techniques [KJM], Sociology: work & labour [JHBL]