Fear of automation or fear of employers? How firms' organizational strategies shape subjective fears in times of technological change.

People's fears of new automation technologies are known to create resentment, which far-right parties can exploit. However, we also know that subjective automation risks do not follow deterministically from objective exposure to new technologies. Therefore, it is important to understand better the conditions under which subjective automation fears emerge. I argue that the organizational context of firms shapes workers’ risk perceptions, irrespective of actual investments in technologies. To test this argument, I exploit German panel data (LPP-ADIAB) with longitudinal information on subjective automation risks, as well as other subjective indicators of employment relationships. Importantly, this data set is linked to German firm-level register and longitudinal firm surveys. This provides me with a unique opportunity to test how changes in various dimensions of organizational strategies, including flexibilization, corporatist embeddedness, co-determination, and human capital investments, shape the emergence of subjective fears of automation. Furthermore, the data enable me to analyze whether these perceived automation risks correspond with actual technological developments at the firm level. Ultimately, my findings will contribute to an emerging literature that understands the mechanisms of political radicalization (here: fear of automation) from the perspective of peoples’ workplace experiences.