Transformations of Work and Inequality In the Digital Society: Artificial Intelligence, Platform Capitalism, and Workers’ Futures

While previous technological changes often increased demand for higher levels of skill and education, artificial intelligence (AI) may transform task structures across occupations, including jobs traditionally associated with high levels of qualification and expertise. As a result, uncertainty about future skill requirements, career prospects, and workforce needs is growing among employers and workers alike. Understanding how AI adoption, occupational exposure to AI, and expectations about future technological change shape organizational and individual decision-making has become a central challenge for the sociology of work.

This session invites contributions examining how AI-driven transformations shape employment relations, skill formation, careers, labor market mobility, and social inequalities. We welcome research on organizational responses, individual adaptation strategies, and the institutional contexts that mediate these processes.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Changes in skill demand and occupational structures associated with AI adoption or exposure
• Recruitment, retention, and workforce development strategies of employers
• Reskilling, upskilling, and participation in continuing education
• Career planning, occupational mobility, and job transitions under technological uncertainty
• Workers’ perceptions of AI-related opportunities and risks
• The role of labor market institutions, vocational training systems, and industrial relations
• Cross-national differences in responses to AI-driven workplace transformations
• The consequences of AI-related transformations for labor market inequalities

We especially encourage research that provides credible evidence on the causal effects of AI adoption, occupational AI exposure, or AI-related labor market expectations. We are equally interested in contributions that investigate the social mechanisms linking these developments to organizational decision-making, worker behavior, labor market mobility, and social inequalities.