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ReviewPUBLICATION OF THE HUMAN SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL VOL. 16 | NO. 4 | DECEMBER 2018 DIGITAL disruption - THE IMPACT SOCIAL INNOVATION – the need to consult YOUNG PEOPLE - TRANSITIONING OUT OF POVERTY Feature Article Editor’s note CONTENTS n a recent survey, we asked our readers what they thought the Deconstructing the Fourth Industrial HSRC Review should focus on. One Revolution: Defining the concept and 3 I respondent answered, “anything that research agenda reflects the extreme crisis through which we are living”. The future of research: Knowledge 5 production outside institutions Without more context, the concept of an ‘extreme crisis’ will differ among people in Understanding the risks and 7 an unequal society such as ours. However, opportunities of digital evolution by students at the University of Cape there seems to be growing angst among Town, explaining how they used media South Africans, caused by the slumping Tweeting #FeesMustFall: The case of houses and mobilised sympathisers they 9 economy, political uncertainty, fragile #UCTShutdown call ‘twitter cows’. social cohesion and, for many, a struggle Social innovation: Making a case for to keep up with the pace of the global In May this year, parliament heard that 12 participatory approaches digital revolution. 31% of South African municipalities were dysfunctional and another 31% almost In their presentations at the 2018 HSRC Who might engage in anti-immigrant dysfunctional. People in some poor Social Sciences Research Conference violence? A quantitative analysis of 14 communities have protested violently in September, HSRC researchers anti-immigrant aggression about the resultant deteriorating service demonstrated the organisation’s continued delivery, destroying infrastructure that they Low-skilled immigration and the South focus on things that have an impact on the 17 actually need to transition out of poverty. African policy dilemma lives of South Africans. In this edition of HSRC researchers looked at the potential the HSRC Review, we feature articles based Migrants in Cape Town: social cost of these protests and at the 19 on some of those presentations. Settlement patterns conflict between local municipal and The first section focuses on the impact traditional leadership structures. In some Urban land occupations need of rapid digital advancement on society areas, protests are driven by xenophobia purposeful action rather than 22 and the concept of a Fourth Industrial and competition for resources. This HSRC opportunism Revolution (4IR), a phrase that has Review includes articles on foreigners’ become a buzzword. A common definition migration patterns and South Africans’ The love-hate triangle between rural of the 4IR is that it is characterised by attitudes towards them. municipalities, traditional leaders and 24 a fusion of technologies that blurs the traditional councils and its impact on Based on data from the National Income lines between the physical, digital, and local communities Dynamics Study, Dr Ian Edelstein writes biological spheres. The 4IR focuses on about the unique factors that help some the disruptive elements of technological The social cost of violent and young people to transition out of poverty. change. In his presentation, Dr Michael destructive service-delivery protests in 26 Those who do not succeed in doing Gastrow emphasised the need for South Africa this, face a significantly higher risk of researchers to properly conceptualise the depression, the prevalence and severity of Lifting young people out of poverty: meaning of the term to better focus their 28 which are related to their subjective social Factors that influence the transition work. status, writes Chipo Mutyambizi. “Sho’t Left” - Youth going nowhere Dr Hester du Plessis warned about a Those who manage to escape poverty slowly: Enhancing labour-market social class called the precariat, who 30 might face new challenges, perhaps outcomes for youth in the tourism are unequal, poor and technologically finding themselves in the precariat, where industry insecure. As possible casualties of the a degree does not guarantee a secure 4IR, their feelings of anger, anxiety and income. Others find themselves in a Navigating the academy: The alienation influence the way they think draining daily commute to and from work, perspectives of black women academics as 32 and write about society. Edward Thabani because they are unable to find affordable narrated in journal articles Mdlongwa spoke at the conference on accommodation near their jobs. Prof. Ivan digital capitalism, a new form of capitalist Depression symptoms in South Africa: Turok writes about the housing challenge 34 exploitation by global firms through the The link to subjective social status in our cities. development and use of technologies for Race and racism in post-apartheid huge profits at the expense of the poor. Several more articles provide a glimpse 38 South Africa: A book project One example is the Uber platform, a type of HSRC’s work that provides insight or of platform capitalism that has been the informs policies to improve the lives of HSRC Press 40 centre of some violence in South Africa’s South Africans. For more information, taxi industry. please connect with our researchers using their email contact details below each In an article based on his presentation article. Assoc. Prof. Thierry Luescher wrote about the #FeesMustFall-related Twitter activism Antoinette Editor: Antoinette Oosthuizen Correspondence: For feedback and questions, email [email protected], An electronic version is available on www.hsrc.ac.za Pretoria: Private Bag X41, Pretoria, South Africa 0001, Tel: +27 12 302 2000 Fax: +27 12 302 2001 Cape Town: Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, South Africa 8000, Tel: +27 21 466 8000 Fax: +27 21 466 8001 Durban: Private Bag X07, Dalbridge, South Africa 4014, Tel: +27 31 242 5400 Fax: +27 31 242 5401 Production: The HSRC Review is produced by the Communication and Stakeholder Relations Unit, HSRC. The design and photography was done by Antonio Erasmus. HSRC Review | Volume 16 Number 4 • December 2018 | Page 2 he idea that we are in a Fourth prosthetics. This posthumanist DEFINING THE Industrial Revolution (4IR) is discourse argues that humans are Tpremised on the observation evolving beyond our biological origins, CONCEPT AND that technological change is and that personhood increasingly accelerating, that technologies are encompasses biological, physical and RESEARCH converging, and because of the cybernetic systems. velocity, scope and impact of these The WEF argues for the importance changes we have entered a new AGENDA of cultivating intellectual and policy technological era. The term was first responses to this new era. This used in 2016 by the World Economic Over the last few years, the call has captured the attention of Forum (WEF) executive chairman, institutions around the world, perhaps phrase ‘Fourth Industrial Prof. Klaus Schwab. According to by providing a conceptual hook upon Revolution’ has been appearing Schwab, the first industrial revolution which individuals and institutions used steam power to mechanise in many contexts as a signifier can hang the many issues that are production, the second used electric emerging from the rapid technological of technological disruption, power to create mass production, changes happening around us. but what does this mean? In and the third used electronics and his presentation, Dr Michael information technology to automate In South Africa, institutions are production. The 4IR is building on the responding to the 4IR through Gastrow emphasised the need latter. multiple, parallel and sometimes to define the concept for the interlinked processes. These include A defining feature of the 4IR concept structured policy-and strategy- South African context as well is that of a ‘blurring of the boundaries’ development processes within of physical, biological, and digital as for the development of a parliament, the government, higher systems. There are many examples research agenda that speaks to education institutions, the private of this, from the use of virtual reality sector and research institutes. issues of technological change and online avatars to the use of and disruption in South Africa. sensors and robotics in advanced HSRC Review | Volume 16 Number 4 • December 2018 | Page 3 Feature Article The 4IR and social sciences Social scientists need to ask why there is such a sudden interest in the 4IR. Academics have been studying innovation and its impact for a long time. What has changed? How does the concept of the 4IR differ from other ways of understanding technological change? Innovation systems analysis is the main discipline and conceptual foundation for South African and global science and technology policy. Mainstream innovation studies have a wider focus than and future orientation. Policy makers, the 4IR. They include the study of institutions, and the broader public incremental innovation that doesn’t are seeing whole industries and have world-changing consequences sectors and social practices change yet is nonetheless critical for specific before their eyes, creating demand Humans are undergoing multiple groups. The 4IR approach, on the for explanations and solutions. changes, such as increased longevity, other hand, focuses on the disruptive augmentation of human bodies and Social science and humanities have elements of technological change. minds, genetic modification, the important roles to play in responding changing nature of work