D&S researchers Alex Rosenblat and Tim Hwang explore “the significant role of worker motivations and regional political environments on the social and economic outcomes of automation” in this new paper.

Preliminary observations of rideshare drivers and their changing working conditions reveals the significant role of worker motivations and regional political environments on the social and economic outcomes of automation. Technology’s capacity for social change is always combined with non-technological structures of power—legislation, economics, and cultural norms.