The 4th Industrial Revolution, post-capitalism, waged labour and vocational education

This chapter is wide ranging, seeking to address a number of the debates surrounding the 4th Industrial Revolution (4th IR). Importantly, it should be noted that I am going to conflate the notion of Industrie 4.0 with the 4th IR, whilst recognising that the former term was rooted in German advanced manufacturing. The term Industrie 4.0 was developed by three engineers and first surfaced in 2011 at the Hanover trade fair with the notion of the 4th IR being popularised by Schwab (2017) in his book of that name. This term has been embedded through the activities of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The chapter engages with the imaginary of the 4th IR, post-capitalism, waged labour, post-work, post-capitalism and the salience of vocational education in these new conditions. An important question concerns whether the affordances of the 4th IR can be appropriated by a progressive project. At the same time it necessary to acknowledge that the technologies surrounding the 4th IR are entwined with capitalist interests. However the starting point of the discussion is with the imaginary of the 4th IR and its relationship with neo-liberalism and capitalism.