Showing papers on "Deskilling published in 1990"
TL;DR: The authors argue that teaching is a specific kind of labor process, one that is currently being subject to rationalization, deskilling, and intensification, which has had a major impact on teachers' autonomy and the definition of what counts as a skill.
Abstract: Given the increasing power of conservative movements in the larger society, there is considerable pressure currently not only to redefine the manner in which education is carried out, but to redefine what education is actually for This has had a major impact on teachers’ autonomy and the definition of what counts as a skill. We argue that teaching is a specific kind of labor process, one that is currently being subject to rationalization, deskilling and intensification. Since teaching has historically been seen as largely “women’s paid work,” the gender implications of such tendencies are crucial. By interpreting teaching in gender and labor process terms, we report data from an ethnographic study of the use of a computer literacy curriculum to illuminate the effects of these tendencies on teachers’ daily lives. In this context, teachers often employed a prepackaged curriculum that deskilled them and frequently left them bored and reliant on outside experts and purchased material. Yet they also employed t...
152 citations
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: A series of critiques of Braverman's conceptual and historical adequacy have been made by a stream of empirical studies which have varied considerably in their awareness and illumination of its central problematics as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Prompted by the appearance of Labor and Monopoly Capital (1974), the labour process debate has been characterised by a series of critiques of its conceptual and historical adequacy, and by a stream of empirical studies which have varied considerably in their awareness and illumination of its central problematics. Although often exaggerated, deficiencies in Braverman’s analysis are now widely accepted. Empirical weaknesses, such as his excessive emphasis upon Taylorism and deskilling, have been addressed (e.g. Edwards, 1979). At the same time, efforts have been made to develop more adequate conceptual tools for analysing central themes, such as the dynamics of management control (e.g. Storey, 1985; Friedman, in this volume).
141 citations
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: A counter-reformation that tries to restore some of the insights that have been lost or confused in the rise of revisionism can be found in this paper, where Friedman shows that the concept of managerial strategy is useful and indeed essential.
Abstract: The labour process debate had been dominated by arguments about deskilling. This particular focus has strengthened the already powerful tendency towards the emergence of what may be termed a revisionist orthodoxy in which the contingencies of work relationships are highlighted and the error of assuming a logic of capitalist development is criticised. As Salaman (1986: 114) puts it, ‘within the Labour Process tradition, actors were omniscient, conscious strategists, aware of, and responding to, the rationalities of Marxist analyses of work organizations within capitalism.’ Many of the chapters in this volume reflect a counter-reformation that tries to restore some of the insights that have been lost or confused in the rise of revisionism. Friedman shows that the concept of managerial strategy is useful, and indeed essential. Thompson argues for a politics of production. This chapter concentrates on the analysis of conflict.
111 citations
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: There are three major overlapping currents as mentioned in this paper : questions about deskilling and the attempt to construct a satisfactory model of skill changes, questions about labour markets, and questions about managerial strategy and control.
Abstract: Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capital was published in 1974. It stimulated a widespread debate in Britain, which gathered pace through the latter part of the 1970s. This debate has extended and diversified, so that now there are three major overlapping currents:
(1)
Questions about deskilling and the attempt to construct a satisfactory model of skill changes.
(2)
Questions about labour markets and the attempt to construct a satisfactory model of capitalist labour markets.
(3)
Questions about managerial strategy and control.
99 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that distinguishing more carefully between theory and polemic in Marx's writing and between short-term processes and long-term trends reveals the possibility of a quite different reading of Marx's theory.
Abstract: of technology on skill requirements.' Marx's name figures prominently in this research as a theorist and prophet of the dehumanization and deskilling of work under capitalism. Indeed, it is now considered almost obvious that Marx, rightly or wrongly, saw capitalist development and use of machinery as tending to--and at least to some extent designed to--reduce skill requirements.2 This article argues that distinguishing more carefully between theory and polemic in Marx's writing and between short-term processes and long-term trends in Marx's theory reveals the possibility of a quite different reading. Apart from its exegetical merits, this new reading offers a theoretically provocative and surprisingly optimistic perspective on the longer-term trend in skill requirements under capitalist conditions.
55 citations
01 May 1990
TL;DR: Deeace as discussed by the authors analyzed occupational trends and projections, performed case studies of four industry sectors (apparel and textile, acounting, management consulting, and software development), and reviewed research on changing skill demands and educational responses.
Abstract: Changes in the economy and the workplace are changing job skill requirements and the process of skill acquisition. A study analyzed occupational trends and projections, performed case studies of four industry sectors (apparel and textile, ac:ounting, management consulting, and software development), and reviewed research on chang:ng skill demands and educational responses. Conflicting views of jo,D skills emerged--whether jobs would )ncreasingly become "Laskilled" or require increasingly higher order skills. Intensified competition, changing demand for goods and services, and an acce7.erated rate of change necessitate economic restructuring. Coping with these conditions requires changes in the organization of companies and industries and in relationships between suppliers and customers. There are implications f education and training in the changes in the relative numbers of highand low-skilled positions, a more uncertain and less well-defined environment, and more complex interactions among people. Whether and how much of the preparation of the work force should take place in schools or the workplace is at question. One conclusion is tnat rather than deskilling, technological advances demand more conceptual and problem-solving abilit2es at all levels of the employment hierarchy. , ? traditional distinctions between academic and vocational education are being challenged, and learning must now be viewed as a continuous, lifelong process. (Includes an appendix on occupational structure, 6 tables, and 86 references.) (CML) U S OEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION ' 1E10o, Pes..a " a sc ;. gESOsACES NacCRMACEV'EP :7-RC s loc.e^t sas nee, ec"..1., as ece red " :a ^ g "ar.s ..:^3^Q5ave Deeace ,bvC.,K or. 'r O'tsae(1 ." s "ecessa P1"" -.7EP :`,CS C,^ "jv CHANGES IN THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF WORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR SKILL REQUIREMENTS AND SKILL FORMATION
40 citations
TL;DR: The relationship among high-technology industrialization, skill levels, and economic inequality is the subject of considerable controversy among social scientists and policymakers as discussed by the authors, drawing on classic post-industrial, skill upgrading, and deskilling debates.
Abstract: The relationship among high-technology industrialization, skill levels, and economic inequality is the subject of considerable controversy among social scientists and policymakers. We explore these relationships in this article, drawing on classic post-industrial, skill upgrading, and deskilling debates. Using several types of local labor markets in the South, we compare high-tech workers to other workers with respect to industrial, occupational, and earnings distributions. Our findings suggest that much of the conflicting evidence is due to differences in definitions of high technology and to the local labor market context in which high-tech industries are located. The earnings distributions of some high-tech workers exhibit considerable inequality and suggest that deskilling may be occurring. Other high-tech workers have more equal earnings distributions that may be a product of skill upgrading. We also find that minority labor force participants—women and blacks—experience more earnings discrimination ...
16 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a 12-month study of a supermarket branch undergoing an EPOS installation is presented, which suggests that while each party may gain in certain respects, the benefits from scanning overwhelmingly accrue to the company, and that in some instances these may actually be to the disadvantage of other parties.
Abstract: EPOS systems are being hailed by supermarket executives as ‘a great technological breakthrough’ for companies, customers and store employees alike, but the article (based on a 12-month study of a supermarket branch undergoing an EPOS installation) suggests that while each may gain in certain respects, the benefits from scanning overwhelmingly accrue to the company, and that in some instances these may actually be to the disadvantage of other parties. Through a discussion of checkout operations, staffing, deskilling, and price changes, the article argues there are few gains for the customer and employee; while outcomes such as system breakdowns or inaccurate stocktakes are to everyone's disadvantage. As EPOS applications move on to EFTPOS and Teleshopping, the likelihood is that these factors, which often involve behavioural considerations, will again receive insufficient attention compared to the technology itself.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the relationship of technical change and job skills among maintenance workers in telecommunications in Britain and demonstrate that there are significant variations within different areas of such maintenance work.
Abstract: Here the author examines the relationship of technical change and job skills amongst maintenance workers in telecommunications in Britain. It demonstrates that there are significant variations within different areas of such maintenance work and strongly challenges the notion that such maintenance work is subject to a generic process of deskilling in the present era.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the relation between new technology based on microelectronics and changes in skills and training and propose a critique of the deskilling thesis put forward by Friedmann and Touraine in France and Braverman in the USA.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of the effect of dieselization on locomotive engineers is presented, showing that a particular skill made obsolete by the transition from steam to diesel locomotives had greater importance for the formation and maintenance of an occupational community among engineers than the many other skills required of them.
Abstract: Insufficient attention has been paid to the social dimensions of skill in the ongoing investigation of deskilling. This article seeks to stimulate critical analysis of the impact of skill changes on work-based social relationships among workers by presenting a case study of the effect of dieselization on locomotive engineers. The study shows that a particular skill made obsolete by the transition from steam to diesel locomotives had greater importance for the formation and maintenance of an occupational community among engineers than the many other skills required of them. The data also suggest that the loss may have led to a deterioration of the community. Implications for workers' collective power are considered, along with other concerns for future analyses of changing skill requirements.
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: This paper explored the form, diversity and reasons for an interest in critical accounts and why increasing numbers of social scientists regard the terrain of accounting thought and accounting practice with interest, and why accountants have increasingly turned to a variety of alternative theories to make sense of accounting knowledge and practice, and to reform it.
Abstract: This intoductory essay is concerned to explore the form, diversity and reasons for an interest in critical accounts. It seeks to explain why increasing numbers of social scientists regard the terrain of accounting thought and accounting practice with interest, and why accountants have increasingly turned to a variety of alternative theories to make sense of accounting knowledge and practice, and to reform it. How is accounting implicated in deindustrialisation, deskilling at work, increasing rationalisation and bureaucratisation of society, environmental pollution and conflict in society? What understanding can be derived from theories of the control of work, of professional formation and change, of knowledge and power, and of processes of social structuring? This book explores some of these questions and this introductory essay provides a context for that exploration. The essay is in three independent parts. The first explains the origins of the book. The second part outlines the nature and diversity of the themes in the contributions. The third reflects on the rise of the critical accounting movement.
TL;DR: In this paper, regular classroom teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of the development of a pullout gifted program in their district and the ways in which the gifted program affected their conceptions of giftedness and of their own classrooms.
Abstract: Regular classroom teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of the development of a pullout gifted program in their district. Teachers' satisfaction with the selection process, their interactions with parents about the gifted program, and the ways in which the gifted program affected their conceptions of giftedness and of their own classrooms were examined. The article explores the extent to which the labeling process required teachers to accept, interpret, and justify a largely externally- made decision that affected teachers' classrooms. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which discrete gifted programs and teacher education programs that prepare gifted teachers may contribute to the deskilling of regular classroom teachers and a diminished sense of their ability and responsibility for meeting the educational needs of all children within heterogeneous classrooms.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace working class formation to relations of production, to an economic structure rooted in the workplace where employers and employees confront each other, and argue that the workplace does not consist of economic relations alone, but also of juridical, ideological and power relations.
Abstract: Recent studies of the Australian Workers' Union ( AWU) and working class politics in the pastoral industry have concentrated on the unions, its leaders, and on the property ownership of its members. This has obscured social relations of production between employers and employees within the labour process. Nor has enough attention been given to the position of pastoral workers as persons who do not own the means of production but work for wages.1 For such labour historians working class formation occurs through trade unions and other forms of political and economic organisation. There are also writers such as Connell and Irving who are in the tradition of culturalist history developed by E. P. Thompson.2 For them class is a felt experience, a set of beliefs and attitudes, a self-conception arising out of a way of life. They focus on the culture of the working class, on human agency, rather than economic structure. They recognise the importance of class relations, but equate these relations to how groups perceive themselves. This article traces working class formation to relations of production, to an economic structure rooted in the workplace where employers and employees confront each other. However, the workplace does not consist of economic relations alone, but also of juridical, ideological and power relations. As this article shows, a focus on social relations of production does not imply economic reductionism. Nor does it exclude human agency or consciousness. Buyers and sellers of labour power enter into economic relations that are simultaneously political, legal and cultural relations. Contemporary discussions of the labour process have been triggered by Braverman's argument that under modern capitalism there was an erosion of the ability of employees to regulate how work was done. In essence Braverman has focused on relations between employers and employees as power relations that were structured by technological changes. A growing division of labour, the decline of craft, and the deskilling of labour separated the conceptualisation of production from the execution of the plans of management. Control passed almost inevitably to management.3 Australian labour historians have challenged these conclusions. Bulbeck has shown how in the furniture industry compromise between factory owners and the union was more common than total opposition or subordination.4 Frances has argued that while deskilling occurred in the Victorian clothing industry, the extent of deskilling varied between different sections of the labour process, with the skilled and reskilled tasks performed by a male elite, while the deskilled tasks were left to female workers.5 These arguments are of some use to our analysis of the shearing labour process. In the first section of this article the rapid diffusion of shearing machinery is discussed. It is argued that machine shearing replaced hand shearing because it made possible cheaper and speedier shearing, but the use of machines did not improve managerial control. Nor did it lead to deskilling, and shearers won the power to decide the kind of machines they would use. Such con
TL;DR: Since the early 1950s, the labour process in South African print shops and newspapers has undergone revolutionary changes. However, the extensive deskilling and wholesale destruction of erstwhile c...
Abstract: Since the early 1950s, the labour process in South African print shops and newspapers has undergone revolutionary changes. However, the extensive deskilling and wholesale destruction of erstwhile c...
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: The gap between the projected growth of demand and supply is huge as mentioned in this paper, and the growing shortage of professionally trained workers and the rising skill premiums will tend to cause supply to increase more rapidly than we have projected.
Abstract: Excerpt] The growing shortage of professionally trained workers and the rising skill premiums will tend to cause supply to increase more rapidly than we have projected. But the gap between the projected growth of demand and supply is huge. Just to maintain the balance between the growth of supply and the growth of occupational demand that prevailed in the 1980s, itself a period of shortage, it will be necessary to increase in the stock of college graduates in the year 2000 by 3.7 million or, put another way, to raise the number of college graduates entering the labor forces by 462,000 or 42 percent between 1992 and the year 2000.
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that any attempt to redirect Information Technology (IT) to serve social needs must recognize that fundamentally it is an organizational process, and that societal implications, such as workforce displacement and deskilling or the invasion and protection of privacy of citizens, flow from the choices made by organizational decision makers about how and why they implement IT systems.
Abstract: ANY attempt to redirect Information Technology (IT) to serve social needs must recognize that fundamentally it is an organizational process. On the one hand, organizations provide an essential context for the themes with which this book is concerned. Many of the societal implications, such as workforce displacement and deskilling or the invasion and protection of privacy of citizens,[1] flow from the choices made by organizational decision makers about how and why they implement IT systems.
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: The gap between the projected growth of demand and supply is huge as discussed by the authors, and the growing shortage of professionally trained workers and the rising skill premiums will tend to cause supply to increase more rapidly than we have projected.
Abstract: Excerpt] The growing shortage of professionally trained workers and the rising skill premiums will tend to cause supply to increase more rapidly than we have projected. But the gap between the projected growth of demand and supply is huge. Just to maintain the balance between the growth of supply and the growth of occupational demand that prevailed in the 1980s, itself a period of shortage, it will be necessary to increase in the stock of college graduates in the year 2000 by 3.7 million or, put another way, to raise the number of college graduates entering the labor forces by 462,000 or 42 percent between 1992 and the year 2000.