What is it about?
Automation contributed to the prosperity of the mid-20th century, but also stoked anxieties. This article discusses the development and reactions to automation in the automobile industries of the United States and Germany during this period. Management endorsed automation as necessary for growth while workers wanted the benefits of higher productivity while avoiding the negatives of technological displacement. The divergence between the cooperative industrial relations in Germany and the combative relations in the United States also shaped outcomes.
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Why is it important?
Anxiety about automation, AI, or robotics is not new. The ideological positions of the contemporary debate and anxieties over new technologies were present in the mid-20th century in both Europe and the United States. Yet, the US and Germany responded to the challenge of automation differently, which is also important in tracking industrial development. Understanding the past helps us understand the present and possible futures.
Perspectives
Comparison between countries and over time is important for grasping current challenges and dilemmas.
Anthony Knowles
University of Tennessee Knoxville
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Prosperity or Automation Hysteria? Contradictions of Growth, Productivity, and Mechanization in the Postwar Decades, July 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004736719_005.
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