Project Details
Projekt
The Post-Pandemic Digitalisation Surge and Inequality (DigiCLASS2) – (Un-)Equal Experiences and Work-Life Trajectories
Applicant
Professor Dr. Hajo Holst
Subject Area
Empirical Social Research
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442459396
DigiCLASS2 focuses on the inequality effects of the post-pandemic digitalisation surge. Covid-19 has been widely labelled as an “accelerator” of the digital transformation of society, and work-life in particular. The most prominent example for the accelerated digitalisation is the rapid expansion of remote work. Yet, the post-pandemic digitalisation surge is not limited to remote work. Digital tools and services are proliferating in many sectors. The acceleration of digitalisation in work-life is the result of organisations’ responses to the “series of cascading crises” following the emergence of Sars-Cov2. However, it is also fueled by the growing societal acceptance of digital services propelled by the increased use during the pandemic. Using a class framework (Oesch) and building on our own research on inequalities in German workers’ digitalisation experiences during the pandemic, the proposed project will explore how workers experience the post-pandemic digitalisation surge currently transforming many working worlds. DigiCLASS2 aims at systematically analyzing the inequalities arising from the post-pandemic digitalisation surge from the viewpoint of workers. Their perspectives will be analysed along two dimensions, namely present experiences and future expectations. The following questions will be answered: First, what are the commonalities and differences in the experiences of the accelerated digital transformation for members of the same social class? Second, confronted with the post-pandemic digitalisation surge, what expectations do members of different social classes have for the digital future of their own work? And third, how are organisational factors or policies influencing the digitalisation experiences of workers from different classes? Methodologically, the project rests on 18 multi-class studies from three working-worlds particularly impacted by the Corona pandemic and the subsequent digitalisation surge, namely health care, manufacturing and retail. Case studies focus on the implementation and use of distinct digital systems, applications and artifacts, and are based on interviews with management, workers’ representatives, supervisors and all occupations working with or impacted by the digital technologies. The class approach allows for a systematic comparison of workers’ digitalisation experience across diverse working worlds. By grasping workers’ concrete digitalisation experiences and their related future expectations DigiCLASS2 aims at drawing a class map of the inequality dynamics of the post-pandemic digitalisation surge. By doing so, the project contributes to the priority programme’s 2267 objectives as well as digitalisation research and the current debates on the societal relevance of class.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
