Definition of Automation
(noun) The act or process of replacing human workers with machines so that tasks can be performed automatically.
Example of Automation
- home automation (also called domotics)
Etymology of Automation
- Typically attributed to Ford Motor Company Vice President Delmar S. Harder in 1948.
Automation Pronunciation
Syllabification: au·to·ma·tion
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /awt-uh-mAY-shuhn/
- British English – /awt-uh-mAY-shuhn/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌɑdoʊˈmeɪʃ(ə)n/
- British English – /ˌɔːtəˈmeɪʃn/
Usage Notes
- Plural: automations
- Not to be confused with mechanization, which is using machinery and equipment to replace human or animal labor to improve accuracy and speed.
- Also called automatic control.
Related Video
Additional Information
- Word origin of “automation” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Zuboff, Shoshana. 1988. In the Age of the Smart Machine: the Future of Work and Power. New York: Basic Books.
Related Terms
- capitalism
- culture lag
- digital divide
- e-readiness
- knowledge gap
- neo-Luddite
- planned obsolescence
- technological diffusion
- technology
Works Consulted
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Farlex. (N.d.) TheFreeDictionary.com: Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus. Farlex. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/).
Ferrante, Joan. 2011. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Automation
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “automation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 30, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/automation/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
automation. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/automation/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “automation.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/automation/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“automation.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 30 Sep. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/automation/>.