Jerry Davis is Associate Dean for Business+Impact, and the Gilbert and Ruth Whitaker Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He is also Professor of Sociology. Prof. Davis received his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and taught at Northwestern and Columbia before moving to U. of M. He has published widely in management, sociology, and finance

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have drastically shifted the costs of organizing work in different ways. It is increasingly feasible to “rent” workers through temporary and contract work, often through online platforms such as Uber. In the U.S., jobs replaced careers, and now gigs are increasingly replacing jobs, creating a precarious new class of employment. This presentation will describe how this shift happened, and speculate on what comes next.

This is the first of a six-lecture series. The subject is The Future of Work. How Will Your Grandchildren Make a Living? The next lecture will be January 10, 2019. The subject is: Renewed Activism for the Labor Movement.