A Research On The Evolutionary Process Of Labor Relations Promoted By Technological Revolutions

In recent years,the influence of the technological revolution of AI(Artificial Intelligence)and ICT(Information and Communication Technology)on labor relations has attracted increasing academic attention.As the world’s second largest economy with the most complete industrial system,China should deeply delve into the impact of technological revolutions on labor relations.Only by understanding the mechanisms of that technological revolutions influence on labor relations,can we promote people’s free and all-round development while promoting scientific and technological progress,and then carry out the development concept of "people-centered"while practicing the great task of building a scientific and technological power in the world.According to Marxism,the scientific judgments of anything’s development trend must be based on in-depth study of theory,history and reality.However,most current studies on how new technologies affect labor relations could not combine theoretical logic with historical context.Among the evolutionary theories of labor relations which could be used for reference,western mainstream economics’evolutionary theory of labor relations emphasizes the role of price mechanism but ignores the social and historical factors of labor relations’ evolution.Marxist evolutionary theory of labor relations focuses on the influence of institutional factors on labor relations,but it’s analysis of technologies is inadequate.Preze C and some other economists of evolutionary economics put forward a techno-economic paradigms(TEP)theory to analyze the co-evolutionary process of technology,finance and institution.TEP includes some components of labor relations,but TEP theory has not specifically discuss the evolution of labor relations driven by technological revolutions.In view of the shortcomings above,this thesis constructs a theoretical framework of the evolution of labor relations driven by technological revolutions(industrial revolution,electrical revolution and ICT revolution),analyzes the evolutionary trend of labor relations,and discusses the government’s regulate measures of labor relations,in order to improve the existing researches.This thesis could be regarded as a concrete study on marxist principle of "productive forces determine productive relations":technological revolutions are the embodiments of productive forces,labor relations are the embodiments of productive relations.At the aspect of theoretical research,this thesis adopts the methods of historical research,qualitative research and quantitative research to conduct a long-term structural research on labor relations,analyzes the dynamic mechanisms and general rules of the evolution of labor relations driven by technological revolutions.Firstly,this thesis proposes the concept of "labor relations paradigms"(LRP)based on the theory of "techno-economic paradigms"(TEP)proposed by Preze C.LRP is a group of consensual behavior patterns which generally recognized and observed by both workers and firms in a long period,LRP plays an important role in promoting capital accumulation and economic growth.The connotations of LRP includes a series of categories which could reflect the employment relationships,distribution relationships and management relationships between workers and firms,such as employment stability,labor income,working conditions,management mode,education and skill training,social welfare and so on.Each technological revolution can shape a kind of LRP and make it become the main stream LRP of the society.With the evolution of a technological revolution,LRP will undergo the life cycle of"exploration,consolidation and then decline",which will promote the evolutionary process of"tension,relaxation and then tension" of labor relations.This thesis summarizes the LRP of the industrial revolution and the electrical revolution based on the historical data of the United Kingdom and the United States,and then makes a prospect for the LRP of the ICT revolution based on the development trend of the ICT and AI technologies.Secondly,this thesis explores the dynamic mechanisms and general rules of the evolution of labor relations(or LRP)driven by technological revolutions.Technological revolutions mainly promoted the evolution of labor relations(or LRP)through the mechanisms such as "machine-labor substitution","labor-employer game" and "domestic-foreign investment"."Machine-labor substitution" mechanism is that the economy changes driven by technological progress influence on productive relations and relative price of labor and machine,then lead to the phenomenon of"labor replace machine" or "machine replace labor",and then influence on labor relations(or LRP)."Labor-employer game" mechanism is that the economy changes driven by technological progress influence on the relative bargaining power between employees and employers,then lead to the comparative advantages of workers or firms in their negotiations,and then change the income distribution between employees and employers,so as to influence on the labor relations(or LRP)."Domestic-foreign investment" mechanism is that multinational corporations adjust their industrial layouts all around the world flexibly according to technological and economic conditions of the host countries,then make the host countries become net inflow countries or net outflow countries of capital,so as to change the labor relations(or LRP)of the host countries.The changes in macroeconomic environment will affect the dynamic mechanisms above in the different evolutionary stages of technological revolutions,so as to promote the evolutionary process of "exploration,consolidation and then decline" of LRP,and then promote the evolutionary process of "tension,ease and then tension" of labor relations.So governments should consider the mechanisms above as starting points while formulating relevant policies,so as to promote the harmony between employers and employees,and create conditions for long-term capital accumulation and economic growth.At the aspect of applied research,With the help of the theoretical framework above and the historical,quantitative and quantitative research methods,this thesis analyzes the labor relations’(or LRP’s)evolution in the process of China’s technological catch-up,analyzes LRP’s dynamic mechanisms,analyzes the effects of LRP’s government regulations,and puts forward the transformation tendency of LRP and governments’ regulating policies of labor relations in the AI era based on the impacts and challenges of ICT and AI technologies on LRP’s evolutionary mechanisms.Firstly,there has a significant characteristic of government’s dominance in the evolutionary process of China’s labor relations(or China’s labor relations paradigms,CLRP),which lead to that China could maintain comparative harmonious labor relations in China’s chasing process of technologies.Secondly,China’s evolutionary mechanisms of labor relations(or CLRP),which including "machine-labor substitution" mechanism,"labor-employer game"mechanism and "domestic-foreign investment" mechanism,have generally promoted a smooth developing process of China’s labor relations(or CLRP),which may be due to the mainly labor-intensive characteristic of China’s industry,the development of labor unions promoted by China’s government,and the increaseing investments both form domestic areas and foreign countries.Thirdly,China’s government has promoted the smooth development of China’s labor relations(or CLRP)by promoting coordinated development of economic entities with different ownership forms,promoting employment by expanding fiscal expenditure and gaining the employers in the public sectors,and protecting workers in legislation and judicature of labor disputes.Finally,the AI technologies will bring a lot of new challenges such as replacing more workers using machines,strengthening employers’ control in plants,weakening the power of labor unions,and facilitating global industrial transfer.These challenges will make it more difficult to promote LRP’s(or CLRP’s)smooth development and transformation in the future.So the governments should implement more active employment policies,improve the social security system,support the development of labor unions,improve labor laws and regulations,and promote industrial transformation and upgrading,so as to regulate labor relations,promote the harmony between employers and employees,and create relative good conditions for long-term stable economic growth.