Mattia Dessì
- Email: bnmde@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Capitalist transformation and the fourth industrial revolution: mechanisation and automation in the South African mining industry.
- Supervisor: Professor Mark Stuart, Dr Alexander Beresford
Profile
My doctoral research aims to understand the effects of the fourth industrial revolution on the world of work through the case study of Booysendal platinum mine in South Africa. As an undergraduate, I graduated in Political Science at the University of Cagliari. Following this, I completed my Masters in African Studies at the University of Dalarna and Internation Relations at the University of Cagliari.
Research interests
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) represents an important source of inspiration for policymakers in South Africa and around the world. President Cyril Ramaphosa has often stressed the importance of exploiting new technologies in order to solve South Africa’s long-standing issues of poverty and unemployment. Yet, research is needed in order to understand the concrete effects of the introduction of new technologies on the world of work. The public debate focuses mostly on the possible effects in terms of employment opportunities and productivity levels. I argue that there is more than that. My research aims to understand how workers’ experience of the workplace has changed as a consequence of transformations in the relations of production. In order to do so, I will use the theoretical tools developed by Labour Process Theory in combination with data from semi-structured interviews, participant observations and secondary sources. Finally, the objective of my research is to underline the workers’ viewpoint on, and reactions to, the 4IR rather than seeing them as passive witnessed of these processes.
Qualifications
- MA International Relations
- MA African Studies
- BA Political Science
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change