Challenges and impacts of the digital transformation of society in the social sphere

The world is rapidly entering a digital era that will fundamentally change not only the way that production operates, but also a way of life. The new industrial revolution will bring many positive changes while the introduction of the ‘smart factory’ and the digitisation of industry as a whole, or its individual sectors, will inevitably lead to changes in the labour market and in methods of work, as well as the transformation of the character of work and employment. At the same time, social polarisation and marginalisation, as well as business networking and the ‘flexibilisation’ of labour, is generating a weakening of social organisations, especially trade unions. After determining the semantic and epistemological characteristics of the key terms and concepts, this article principally examines the social impacts of the digital transformation of society. Special attention is paid to an understanding of the position of workers, their social status and general positioning in the emerging and future conditions, in addition to a visualisation of the accompanying phenomena and by-products carried by digital transformation.