Ishan BhatnagarAIR 5 · CSE 2025 · 400 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
Classical theories of social change include linear theories such as the functionalist and Marxist approaches as well as cyclical approaches such as Sorokin's theory of social change.
Body · points
Adequacy in explaining impact of A.I. in labour markets
1.> Positivistic Development | Emergence of A.I. in labour markets converges with Comte's prediction of increasing impact of science and technology in the positive stage.
2.> Response to external and internal requirements | Parson's theory of evolutionary and incremental change in dynamic equilibrium suggests that the social system responds to differential requirements, such as efficiency, costs lowering, customizability, addressing large data sets through AI based automation in labour markets.
3.> Differential impact | World Bank predicts that 69% of jobs in India are at risk because of A.I. This falls in line with Marx' prediction of the polarization of classes, leading to embourgeoisement of few and proletarianization of many. Already in the U.S., one can see the formation of a "tech oligarchy" of billionaires investing in A.I. at the cost of stable, blue collar jobs.
4.> World Disparity | Differential impact on the Global North and Global South explained by Neo-marxist theory.
5.> Materialist change | Technocentrism associated with A.I. use reflects Sorokin's theorization of western society at the peak of Sensate stage. However, A.I. itself, in terms of ability of generative A.I. to hold philosophical conversations, might take people to the ideational stage driven by spiritual longing.
6.> Creative minority of elites | A.I. represents the attempt of a creative minority to halt the decline of the west (Toynbee), by providing a technocratic solution to its loss of dominance in geopolitics.
Inadequacy in explaining A.I.
1.> Neocolonial Dimensions : data extraction from the "third world" as the "new oil" can only be understood on dependency theorists' emphasis on resource extraction from third world for the gain of the first world (A.G. Frank).
2.> AI induced deskilling | can only be understood through the neo-marxist paradigm that posits that superstructure also influences the base, as brought out in Braverman's deskilling hypothesis.
3.> Disruptions brought about by technology to social change dismantles the functionalist assumption of gradual change, as symbolized in parsons' theory. Rather, A.I. is causing a near instantaneous change.
4.> Also disrupts marxist assumption owing to change in mode of production (via automation) without a class struggle.
Close · a summary
Hence, A.I. driven automation is a unique event only partially explainable by traditional theories.