This text investigates the societal and economic implications of increasing industrial and administrative automation. John Rose examines the transition toward automated systems, utilizing historical context and mid-20th-century technological trends to argue that the shift requires careful management of labor and social structures. The work provides a framework for understanding how mechanical and electronic advancements alter the nature of human employment.

Readers frequently note the concise, academic nature of this paperback as a snapshot of early automation discourse. Experts highlight this as a foundational text for understanding the historical anxieties surrounding the rise of machine-driven labor.