The Transformation of “Individual” in the Era of New Technological Revolution and the Response of Social Law

In modern society, individuals were abstracted as undifferentiated, rational, and equal subjects. Capitalists ruthlessly exploited laborers in the name of “autonomy of contract”, which aroused people’s reflection on the theoretical assumption of the abstract individuals. There has been a rise in social legislation which supports the weak and has the meaning of inclined protection. The platform economy spawned by new technological innovation not only boosts employment, but also dissolves labor relations. With the development of automation technology, low-skilled workers and the middle class in regular jobs face the risk of being eliminated from the job market. The existing social law system which integrates public law and private law is weak in dealing with the problem of flexible employment and technical unemployment, social law should use purer private law and wider public law to classify and coordinate various social relations. Measures such as (1) fully respecting the autonomy of will of both parties in the employment contract and eliminate unnecessary compulsory norms; (2) Redefining the labor standard law, from the perspective of human rights protection, specifying the state obligation of the right to education, establishing a social security system with the basic income for whole people as the core, may respond the challenges and transformation.