Our weekly SRI Seminar Series welcomes Nicole Wu, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Wu’s research interests include international and comparative political economy, public opinion, the politics of technology and labour politics, and the political consequences of technological change in the context of the rise of China.
In this talk, Wu will explore how anxieties around labour displacement and inequality in the context of globalization and automation are directed at immigrants and workers abroad, while discounting the effects of technology. Using survey data, Wu demonstrates how these anxieties are informing political movements that seek to resist the effects of globalization.
Talk title:
“‘Restrict foreigners, not robots’: Attitudes toward globalization and automation”
Abstract:
Many, especially low-skilled workers, blame globalization for their economic woes. Robots and machines, which have led to job market polarization, rising inequality, and labor displacement, are often viewed much more forgivingly. This paper argues that citizens tend to misdirect blame for economic dislocations toward immigrants and workers abroad, while discounting the effects of technology. Using a nationally representative survey and a survey experiment in the United States, I show that people cope with employment threats from automation by demanding protectionist policies, even accounting for standard explanations for these preferences. With robots increasingly displacing labor, people want to stop outgroups—immigrant and foreign workers—from further dividing the pie. Hesitant to halt innovation, individuals opt to buffer the technological threat to domestic workers with substitute policies—immigration and trade restrictions—that they believe could improve national wages and employment prospects. As such, automation anxiety may have evoked individuals’ protectionist instincts, intensified attempts to resist globalization, and contributed to the revival of radical politics.
About Nicole Wu
Nicole Wu is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on how workers respond to employment threats from technological change and automation. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University, and obtained a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan.
About the SRI Seminar Series
The SRI Seminar Series brings together the Schwartz Reisman community and beyond for a robust exchange of ideas that advance scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. Seminars are led by a leading or emerging scholar and feature extensive discussion.
Each week, a featured speaker will present for 45 minutes, followed by an open discussion. Registered attendees will be emailed a Zoom link before the event begins. The event will be recorded and posted online.
Nicole Wu