Frictions in the Future of Work

Abstract

The concept of the “future of work”, though widely-referenced in mainstream media and policy discourse, remains persistently ambiguous, making it ripe for ethnographic intervention. Contrary to the techno-determinism of industry research and the limited focus of some public policy, I trace the social complexities and frictions of the future of work through the example of worker surveillance in the retail industry. I begin by reviewing the history of retail worker surveillance and showing how the social dimensions of worker surveillance have evolved alongside labor processes. Then, I explore a recently-proposed US policy that aims to combat worker surveillance, and I explore how that proposal might look different if it were informed by ethnography. I end by considering speculative methods and design justice frameworks as potential avenues through which applied ethnographers might wrestle with these social complexities and contribute to collectively redesigning futures of work.