AI and the Disruption of the Social
Description
AI and the Disruption of the Social analyses digital automation and the disruption of both the social and social work, in response to rapid advances in digital technology, automated decision-making, and artificial intelligence within systems of governance, work, education and everyday life.
Establishing that we're now entering a 'fourth industrial revolution' driven by late capitalism, this volume approaches technological advancements with a critical lens, exploring how digital automation is disrupting the social, and particularly the lives of the most vulnerable. Contributors suggest that AI systems are amplifying existing socio-economic, gender and racial biases and stereotypes in our society, suggesting an ethical and progressive political response is needed to counteract this. Arguing that digital advancements represent a push to commodify human 'intelligence' whilst advancing state surveillance projects and coercive control, this work explores how automation is transforming the knowledge and skills required to thrive in human services roles and within a civil society.
This book highlights important philosophical, epistemological, ethical, educational and practice challenges for governments, human services practitioners and educators, and will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, social policy and sociology.
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Persons
Goetz Ottmann is a Senior Lecturer at Federation University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of several books, book chapters, and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. His research interests include critical social theory, authoritarian 'welfare', social policy, and aged and disability care. His latest co-authored books include (2024) Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Reimagining the 'New Normal', and (2026) AI and the Disruption of Welfare, all published by Routledge.
Carolyn Noble is a Professor Emerita at ACAP, Sydney and Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of several books, chapters and peer reviewed articles. Her latest co-authored and co-edited books include (2020) The Challenge of Right-wing Nationalist Populism for Social Work, (2024) Post-Pandemic Welfare and Social Work: Re-imaging the 'New Normal', (2026) AI and the Disruption of Welfare. She is the current editor-in-chief of IASSW Social Dialogue: https://socialdialogue.online/.
Content
1.AI and the Disruption of the Social: An Introduction 2.Epistemic Agency and the Politics of Social Work 3.Social Work in the Hypermodern: Advancing Humanism in the Age of Smart Machines 4.Can Artificial Intelligence be Controlled? A Social Science Perspective 5.The Politics of Information Communications Technologies (ICT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and implications for social work, justice, and advocacy 6.Critical Scholarship in the Age of Large Language Models 7.AI and the corporate university: constructing new imaginaries or reinscribing old stratifications? 8.AI and Indigenous Knowledge Holders: When Culture Becomes Security. Cultural Security and Epistemic Sovereignty in the Sámi Context 9.Masculinism and Gender Binarism in AI: How Artificial Intelligence Reproduces Patriarchy in the Digital World 10.The helping relationship in new online relational spaces: AI chatbots and the reconfiguration of trust in social work 11.Care, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Ethics: New Opportunities and Challenges for Social Workers 12.Bridging Worlds: Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT and Social Work Ethics 13.Cruel Kindness? The Limitations of Logic-Based Artificial Intelligence in Navigating Ethical Dilemmas within the Human Services Context 14.Social Work Ethics and Generative AI 15.Virtual Encounters in Bereavement Care: Ethical and Clinical Perspectives on AI and Virtual Reality 16.Bias in the Machine: How Artificial Intelligence Perpetuates Ableism in Society 17.Artificial Intelligence between the lighthouse and the storm: potentials and risks for Social Work 18.The Use of AI-Based Counselling. Professional and Ethical Implications for Social Work 19.What's Wrong with AI as a Human Rights Teacher for Social Workers? Reflections on a Teaching Innovation Project in Spain