Working like Machines
Technological Upgrading and Labour in the Dutch Agri-food Chain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2374809 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karin Astrid Siegmann (0000-0001-6664-9249, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Netherlands, corresponding author), Petar Ivošević (0009-0006-5982-142X, Independent Researcher, The Netherlands), Оане Виссер (0000-0002-5673-4439, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Netherlands) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 202-225 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Work Employment and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0950-0170 • E-ISSN: 1469-8722 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/09500170241244718 |
| OpenAlex | W4396704583 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
This article engages with the role of technological upgrading for work in agriculture, a sector commonly disregarded in debates about the future of work. Foregrounding migrant work in Dutch horticulture, it explores how technological innovation is connected to the scope and security of employment. Besides, it proposes a heuristic that connects workers' experience to sectoral dynamics and the wider agri-food chain. Our analysis reads data from a small-scale qualitative study with different actors in the Dutch agri-food sector through the lens of the global value chain literature. Nuancing pessimistic predictions of widespread technological unemployment, we find product upgrading into high value-added products, and process upgrading, such as through climate control in greenhouses, to offer the potential for more and secure employment. However, higher work intensity and the dismantling of entitlements for rest and reproduction to 'make people work like machines' represent the underbelly of these dynamics
Biology · Business · Chain (unit · Economics · Food chain · Industrial organization · Labour economics · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Organic Food and Agriculture
The Precariat
Immigration, Labour Markets and Employment Relations
Economic and social upgrading in global production networks
The future of employment
International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain
Upgrading products, upgrading work? Interorganizational learning in global food value chains to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
The effect of artificial intelligence on China’s labor market
Labour in Global Production
Wasted precariat’
Which Way is “Up” in Upgrading? Trajectories of Change in the Value Chain for South African Wine
Robots and Jobs
Fuelling global production networks with slave labour
Is automation stealing manufacturing jobs? Evidence from South Africa’s apparel industry
Governance and Trade in Fresh Vegetables
Informality, global production networks and the dynamics of 'adverse incorporation
Shifting regional dynamics of global value chains
The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth
Labour Market Flexibility in the Netherlands
Why Do Humans Remain Central to the Knowledge Work in the Age of Robots? Marx's Fragment on Machines and Beyond
Why Artificial Intelligence Will Not Outsmart Complex Knowledge Work
Working-Class Power, Capitalist-Class Interests, and Class Compromise
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |