Social threats in the digitalization of economy and society

Institute of Industrial Economics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2 Zhelyabova Street, Kyiv, 03057, Ukraine

^* Corresponding author: alkhandiy@ukr.net

Abstract

As Ukraine slowly moves towards the digitalization of the economy and society, new trends in the social and labour sphere are revealed that have become challenges to the traditional system of social protection and regulation of labour relations. The impact of digitalization on the social sphere is ambiguous and creates both new opportunities and social threats that have become the purpose of the study. The social threats of digitalization for the nation include moral and spiritual degradation of society, reforming the economy without taking into account social priorities, the growth of structural unemployment, and cyberthreats in the national security system. It is substantiated that the main social threats posing a danger to every person in the process of digitalization are the Internet dependency, personality degradation, decline in mental health, further income differentiation, unemployment increase, increased state control over income and expenses of each person, decrease of personal life security, increased risk of loss of personal information, financial resources as a result of cybercrime and human negligence, computer illiteracy, transfer of decision-making powers to machines. Recommendations for improvement of institutional support of digitalization are proposed in order to minimize social threats in society.