Showing papers on "Deskilling published in 2019"

Work of the Past, Work of the Future

Abstract: US cities today are vastly more educated and skill-intensive than they were five decades ago. Yet, urban non-college workers perform substantially less skilled jobs than decades earlier. This deskilling reflects the joint effects of automation and, secondarily, rising international trade, which have eliminated the bulk of non-college production, administrative support, and clerical jobs, yielding a disproportionate polarization of urban labor markets. The unwinding of the urban non-college occupational skill gradient has, I argue, abetted a secular fall in real non-college wages by: (1) shunting non-college workers out of specialized middle-skill occupations into low-wage occupations that require only generic skills; (2) diminishing the set of non-college workers that hold middle-skill jobs in high-wage cities; and (3) attenuating, to a startling degree, the steep urban wage premium for non-college workers that prevailed in earlier decades. Changes in the nature of work—many of which are technological in origin—have been more disruptive and less beneficial for non-college than college workers.

Critical language teacher education

Abstract: One of the consequences of neoliberal ‘reforms’ of education has been the progressive marketisation of education from pre-school through to university and the accompanying politically motivated recalibration of teacher education designed to produce efficient and disciplined bureaucrats with a narrowly prescribed knowledge base From the neoliberal perspective, education is about the production of workers with the skills and dispositions needed to compete in the global economy, and teachers’ specific remit is to facilitate this This chapter begins with a brief discussion of neoliberalism, before outlining the serious implications it presents for second language teacher education It then moves to a consideration of data from a teacher education programme which – it is suggested – give cause for serious concern Specifically the chapter explores how marketisation has impacted on an initial teacher preparation programme in the UK – the state sector Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Modern Foreign Languages (PGCE-MFL) – as emblematic of the kind of deskilling and discrediting of teachers which has typified the neoliberal era in many global settings The chapter then turns to a consideration of the possibility of critical language teacher education and the ways in which this has been addressed by a group of concerned teacher educators committed to critical pedagogy The chapter concludes by listing a selection of key readings for readers who wish to pursue the issues raised further

The Double-Edged Sword of Jurisdictional Entrenchment: Explaining Human Resources Professionals’ Failed Strategic Repositioning

Abstract: To protect themselves against deskilling and obsolescence, professionals must periodically revise their claims to authority and expertise. Although we understand these dynamics in the broader syste...

“Our school system is trying to be agrarian”: educating for reskilling and food system transformation in the rural school garden

Abstract: School gardens and garden-based learning continue to gain great popularity in the United States, and their pedagogical potential, and ability to impact students’ fruit and vegetable consumption and activity levels have been well-documented. Less examined is their potential to be agents of food system reskilling and transformation. Though producer and consumer are inextricably linked in the food system, and deskilling of one directly influences the other, theorists often focus on production-centered and consumption-centered deskilling separately. However, in a school garden, the production/consumption disconnect is erased, by virtue of the design of the site itself and how it is utilized by the actors within it. School gardens provide the critical component of education in alternative food networks, and contribute to the producer/consumer reskilling that is a necessary part of food system transformation. We conducted a case study of an established school garden program during its transition from autonomous non-profit to official, district-funded program of a rural school district in the Midwest. By participating in the full “seed to plate” life cycle of a garden crop, students in the garden were actively involved in the reconnection of producer and consumer, while educators were fostering in students an appreciation for fresh, healthy foods and actively challenging the “McDonaldization” of both students’ diets and education. Based upon these findings, we argue that school gardens in rural areas could leverage the dominant role of rural America in developing and shifting food system paradigms.

Challenging the ethnic pyramid: Golden rules and organisational measures towards a more inclusive work environment.

Abstract: AIM To contribute to knowledge of how healthcare managers can promote connection and ethnic equality among staff in multicultural organisations. BACKGROUND The increase in migrant care workers often leads to deskilling, discrimination, communication difficulties and harsh working conditions. METHODS A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to examine the work experiences of healthcare workers in a strategically selected nursing home unit with minority and majority workers well balanced across positions. RESULTS Three golden rules were identified: (a) take responsibility for the quality of care in the unit, (b) should engage in all aspects of the care work within scope of practice and (c) collaborate and help each other. Organisational measures supporting these norms were also identified. CONCLUSION It is possible, by means of golden rules and organisational measures, to foster connection and cooperation among nursing home staff and to promote an inclusive work environment where the workers' skills and competences are recognized across educational and migration backgrounds. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Healthcare managers can contribute to challenge the ethnic pyramid often identified in multicultural institutions by implementing diversity-sensitive measures. This may increase the quality of care and the well-being of residents.

Skills-Displacing Technological Change and Its Impact on Jobs: Challenging Technological Alarmism?

Abstract: We use data from a new international dataset - the European Skills and Jobs Survey - to create a unique measure of skills-displacing technological change (SDT), defined as technological change that may render workers' skills obsolete. We find that 16 percent of adult workers in the EU are impacted by SDT, with significant variance across countries, ranging from a high of 28 percent in Estonia, to below seven percent in Bulgaria. Despite claims that technological change contributes to the deskilling of jobs, we present evidence that SDT is associated with dynamic upskilling of workers. The paper also presents the first direct micro-evidence of the reinstatement effect of automating technology, namely a positive contribution of automation to the task content and skills complexity of the jobs of incumbent workers. Despite the recent focus on the polarising impact of automation and associated reskilling needs of lower-skilled individuals, our evidence also draws attention to the fact that SDT predominantly affects higher-skilled workers, reinforcing inequalities in upskilling opportunities within workplaces. Workers affected by SDT also experience greater job insecurity.

Deskilling among Manufacturing Production Workers

Abstract: I use new occupational wage and employment data from more than 160 countries to document a global decline in the demand for skilled production workers in manufacturing since the 1950s. They tended to work in craftsman occupations, and their declining relative wages and employment have been associated with increasing capital intensities of production. My findings reconcile conflicting characterizations of technological change throughout the 20th century as either ‘skill biased’ or ‘deskilling’, and point to a globally decreasing number of manufacturing jobs in which workers with little formal education can acquire significant marketable skills.

Recruitment: an undertheorized mechanism for workplace control

Abstract: It has been nearly half a century since the publication of Harry Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capital. That, along with Michael Burawoy’s subsequent interrogation of Braverman—Manufacturing Consent—set the terms for a robust and enduring research agenda that has focused on labor processes: the deskilling of work, managerial control over workers, consent, and the extraction of surplus value. This article endeavors to advance the labor process paradigm by highlighting recruitment as a tool by which employers maximize the likelihood that they will hire people who will consent to their objectives, broadly defined. Drawing on a broad range of literatures, we show how recruitment and hiring practices constitute part of an overarching apparatus of control wherein managers imagine that particular people will be ideal for particular jobs and positions. We conclude by sketching a research agenda that sociologists of work and labor processes might undertake in order to understand these issues more thoroughly.

Single Context Archaeology as Anarchist Praxis

Abstract: The organization of archaeological fieldwork often resembles a military-style campaign structured around rigid, top-down hierarchies. This is reflected in many aspects of current practice, including the ultimate authority of the site director, the use of excavation methodologies that remove the act of interpretation from field archaeologists, and the general deskilling and reification of archaeological labor in fieldwork. Though there have been several examples of resistance to this hierarchical model we maintain that a sustained critique could stem from an unexpected source: the creation of communities that model anarchist principles through the implementation of the single context methodology in archaeology. In this article we explore the potential for anarchist praxis in archaeological fieldwork and the implications of anarchist thought on the issues of authority and non-alienation of labor in a neoliberal landscape.

Deskilling and return to practice on low-tempo contingency operations.

Abstract: Recent UK Defence Medical Services operations involving large numbers of secondary care clinicians have included the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, support to the Global Ebola Response, and prolonged hospital deployment for medical cover of large exercises such as SAIF SAREEA and KHANJAR

Social recognition beyond employment. refugees embedding deskilling and restructuring identity

Abstract: Employment is considered the primary sphere of social recognition. However, for refugees this source is often unavailable due to phases of unemployment and deskilling. This article explores practic...

The Consequences of Automating and Deskilling the Police

Abstract: Almost no one thinks of automation and the consequences it will bring to policing. This is a mistake. Automation — the combination of artificial intelligence and robotics — is spreading everywhere. Whatever its benefits, we will also face problems as automation replaces human labor. One consequence may be mass unemployment in affected industries. Another consequence of automation is deskilling. The term deskilling refers to the skills and knowledge needed to perform a job that are lost when automation takes over. What happens when the police become deskilled? The deskilling of policing is inevitable because automation is increasingly a part of policing. Many American police departments already use artificial intelligence: it drives automatic license plate recognition, social media threat analysis, predictive policing software, security robots, facial recognition technology, and autonomous drones. Observers of the military have already begun to discuss the legal and policy effects that similar automation will have on soldiers, and on the nature of waging war itself. The deskilling associated with automation will apply to the police, too. The increasing role that artificial intelligence and robotics will play in policing will mean not only that automation will help traditional policing, but that it will also replace some policing altogether. Replacement will mean that human police officers will face a deskilling issue. They will lose some of the core skills we associate with policing. These changes may lie in the future, yet we can already identify some of the law and policy questions they will raise. First, automation and deskilling would undermine the Fourth Amendment’s premise that the police possess a specialized skill requiring judicial deference. Second, automation and deskilling may lead to dramatically different ways of organizing the police. Third, automation and deskilling force us to consider whether diminishing the social aspects of policing is worth the benefit of increased automation.

Mobile Brains and The Question of ‘Deskilling’: High-skilled South Asian migrants in Denmark

Abstract: Based on two ethnographic studies on the experiences of high-skilled migrants in Denmark, we argue that it is problematic to presume a simple correlation between ‘deskilling’ and what is often regarded as low-status jobs. We claim that many of these migrants are, albeit discreetly, actively gaining new skills and knowledge through low-status jobs not related to their qualifications and/or utilising their existing knowledge and skills in their everyday lives. We approach skills as a social construct that differs according to context and under particular historical circumstances, not merely as a neutral, measurable and easily transferable human capital. The article offers critical analysis of simultaneous processes of skilling– deskilling–reskilling–upskilling linked to migration and generates new insights into debates on highly educated migrants in a Nordic context.

De la estandarización a la descualificación: las consecuencias indeseadas de la modernización del periodismo mexicano

Abstract: This article proposes a new reading of Mexican journalism’s modernization. Based on interviews with journalists from three Northern Mexican states that have been identified as pioneers of Mexican journalism’s modernization, it shows how the standardization of news production has generated –as an unintended consequence– a deskilling of journalistic work.

Scars of early job insecurity across Europe: Insights from a multi-country employer study

Abstract: To investigate the scarring effect of early job insecurity on future employment chances, we carried out a factorial survey experiment with recruiters in relation to real vacancies in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland. The chapter contributes to recruitment research in three ways: First, the multi-national design allows comparative analysis across countries, covering the national dimensions of youth unemployment rate, employment protection regulation and type of educational system. Second, the design enables us to differentiate between two forms of early job insecurity - unemployment and work experience in deskilling jobs. We demonstrate that a sole focus on unemployment, as often the case in labour market research, is not sufficient to understand the labour market outcomes caused by different forms of job insecurity. Third, since the sample consists of real recruiters who were hiring for current jobs at the time of the study, we achieved a unique cross-country data set of high external validity. The findings suggest that scarring effects of early job insecurity vary across countries and across occupational fields. While strong employment protection regulation strengthens the scarring associated with work experience in deskilling jobs, unemployment scarring seems stronger where national unemployment is low. Further, the differences in recruiters' evaluation across occupational fields indicate that signalling value of education may vary depending on specific sectors. Our results contribute to debates about active labour market policies as they suggest that measures aiming at quick labour market reintegration without consideration of job quality may not be the most sustainable solution, as work experience in a deskilling job affects recruiters' evaluation negatively.

Rituals and Machines: A Confucian Response to Technology-Driven Moral Deskilling

Abstract: Robots and other smart machines are increasingly interwoven into the social fabric of our society, with the area and scope of their application continuing to expand. As we become accustomed to interacting through and with robots, we also begin to supplement or replace existing human–human interactions with human–machine interactions. This article aims to discuss the impacts of the shift from human–human interactions to human–machine interactions in one facet of our self-constitution, i.e., morality. More specifically, it sets out to explore whether and how the shift to human–machine interactions can affect our moral cultivation. I shall structure the article around what Shannon Vallor calls technology-driven moral deskilling, i.e., the phenomenon of technology negatively affecting individual moral cultivation, and shall also attempt to offer a Confucian response to the problem. I first elaborate in detail Vallor’s idea of technology-driven moral deskilling. Next, I discuss three paradigms of virtue acquisition identified by Nancy E. Snow, i.e., the “folk” paradigm, the skill-and-expertise paradigm, and the Confucian paradigm, and show how the Confucian paradigm can help us to respond to technology-driven moral deskilling. Finally, I introduce the idea of Confucian rituals (li) and argue for the ritualizing of machines as an answer to technology-driven moral deskilling.

Pekerja Muda dan Ancaman Deskilling-Skill Trap di Sektor Transportasi Berbasis Daring

Abstract: Many internet technological discoveries have shaped many aspects of human life, including economic transaction for goods and services. Online-based transportation service is one form of digital economies, which was born out of the current progress of internet applications integrated to smartphones. Motorcycle ride-sharing has been existing in Indonesia from a long time ago, but it becomes much more popular after being offered through internet apps on smartphones. This Article base on mixed-methods research by using survey and in-depth interview as collecting data technically. Based on research on the workers of Go-Jek online-based transportation service in three cities (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Banyuwangi), founded that this job has absorbed a very large number of workers, and the majority of them are young workers. The new things in this job are its job design is fully based on the usage of the algorithm, namely in communicating, supervising, rewarding, and punishing the workers. This affects the job process which provides an ultimate authority to the company to make any decision over the workers. Lastly, we especially analysis the process of deskilling and skill trap in which the young workers do not have an opportunity to get the rank promotion, career mobility, and income up-grading. Considering they are still young and have a very long productive age, this issue is urgent to study further by policymakers in the employment sector.

Deskilling in ophthalmology is the inevitable controllable

Abstract: Medicine is an ever-changing art. The rate of change and its consequences bare important implications to patients and physicians alike. Ophthalmology is not an exception in that sense. Up until around the turn of the Millennium, an ophthalmologist had to develop diagnostic skills which were heavily dependent upon one’s ability to identify correctly pathological findings. The ophthalmologist had then to determine the diagnosis and develop a treatment plan. These characteristics of the profession were similar in developed or developing countries. While major differences among such countries were availability of professionals and treatment equipment. During the last few years, we have witnessed the increasing use of technology in the field of ophthalmology. Advances such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT-angiography, as well as sophisticated biometry and cornea photography, have and are revolutionizing daily practice in ophthalmology clinics worldwide. For example, OCT surrogate end-points and biomarkers are displacing other historical measurements such as visual acuity and clinical examination in clinical trials and it routine practice. The use of this new technology has busted the diagnostic accuracy of retinal diseases, but, it also created a whole host of new challenges, such as data storage, interpretation, learning, cost and maintenance. An additional problem is the fact that ophthalmologists in training who begin to examine patients and learn various pathologies, may be prone to diagnose, treat or make decisions based solely on OCT and similar sophisticated technologies even without thoroughly examining the patient. In a short time, the “physical examination” of the patient can pass to the background or even to the dustbin history.

The effects of trade liberalization on skill acquisition: a systematic review

Abstract: Purpose: The benefits of trade liberalization on upskilling and skill-based wage premiums for high-skilled workers have recently been questioned in policy circles, in part because of rising income inequality and populist movements in developed economies such as the USA. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of trade liberalization on the relative supply and demand for skills. Design/methodology/approach: Through the systematic review of the literature on trade and skill acquisition, this paper isolates a total of 25 articles published over the past two decades. Findings: Key findings demonstrate the importance of the relative development of the trading partner, with more developed countries experiencing higher upskilling, while less developed countries experience deskilling. Technology, geographic level of analysis, sector and gender were also found to be important influences on human capital acquisition associated with international trade. Originality/value: Overall, the authors find support for the idea that trade with developing countries places pressure on low-skill jobs in developed countries but increases the demand for educated workers. The implications of shifts in skills for public policy-making and in terms of the skill premium on wages are discussed.

Skills and Journalism

Abstract: What skills do journalists need? Why do they need them? What do we even mean by “skill” in the first place? In journalism research, the issue of skill has mainly been studied as an applied issue closely linked to journalism education. The main concern has been whether journalism education equips students with the skills they need to succeed in the job market, as well as with the skills they need to fulfill journalism’s democratic function. There is a long-standing conflict between these two “skill goals” of journalism education, where vocational or practical skills are often viewed as (at least potentially) in opposition to academic or theoretical skills. Journalism students need vocational skills in order to satisfy employer needs, and academic skills in order to satisfy wider societal needs. Another key research concern in this area has been the issue of de-skilling: the idea that journalistic work gradually becomes less and less skilled as employers mainly demand quicker outputs across different media platforms, rather than the production of quality content. Another element of the deskilling idea is that experienced (older) journalists are phased out and/or replaced with less experienced (younger) and therefore cheaper journalists who do not necessarily possess specific or very in-depth training in journalism. This process is mainly linked to the ongoing commercialization and digitalization of journalism. Empirically, however, many research results point instead either to a general upskilling of journalism (a higher and higher share of the workforce have a university degree, for example) or to the fact that deskilling may occur in parts of the occupation, whereas other parts may experience upskilling. All of this research has in common that skill is rarely defined and that analyses of skill rarely reference the wider sociological and psychological literature on skill, expertise, and competence. A few scholars have analyzed skill among journalists at a higher level of abstraction, attempting to define what the core expertise or skill of journalism actually is. This research direction is key to the future development of research on journalism and skill.

Deskilling Robots in Logistics Environments

Abstract: Robots are installed in logistics environments because they are adaptive; unlike their rigid mechanized counterparts, e.g. conveyors and lifts. Maintaining this adaptability post installation; and leaving it to the customer to reconfigure and maintain the system is still a difficult proposal. Deskilling the introduction and sustainability of robotic systems therefore is a key success factor for replacing traditional static capital equipment.

Work and Exploitation in Capitalism

Abstract: Labor process theory has produced important typologies of managerial control and a rich body of empirical case studies. However, it has struggled to deal with genuine cases of upskilling and worker empowerment. This chapter revisits Marx to show that he theorized economic development, technological change and the capitalist labor process as contradictory processes evolving across distinct stages. While Marx saw deskilling as dominant in the earliest stages of capitalism, he also theorized tendencies for upskilling. The chapter then reviews the early debates within labor process theory over deskilling versus responsible autonomy and coercion versus consent. It highlights how labor process research has, with a few important exceptions, neglected to systematically consider the contradictory nature of labor process dynamics. Finally, the chapter proposes that a central contradiction within the labor process is between management-as-coordination versus management-as-discipline. It suggests that this contradiction has become intensified in the current stage of capitalism: post-Fordism.

A crise econômica italiana e a proposta do estado como inovador de primeira instância

Abstract: This paper deals with the long Italian economic crisis after the so-called “economic miracle”. The article reconstructs Italy's economic history and policies implemented from the 1970s until 2008, and then shows the effects of the 2008 crisis on the Italian economy. It critically discusses the policies implemented to address the crisis, in particular labour policies such as wage moderation, the weakening of collective bargaining and the deskilling labour supply, achieved also through continued fund reductions for public universities and research. Moreover, it analyses the dynamics of labour force and wages from 2008 to 2018. Taking into account the long economic stagnation and the current Italian productive structure, it concludes that Italy needs to rethink its industrial policies, considering the State as the innovator of first resort.

Digital Learning Experience of Exponential Organisation Employees: The Race Against Obsolescence

Abstract: The chapter explores how digital disruption in the form of social, mobile, analytics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, the cloud as well as internet of things, is impacting learning. The chapter also explores how learning practitioners may respond to avert individual obsolescence and shortened corporate longevity. The chapter discusses the organisational conditions and learning capabilities, competencies and learning culture that will enable not a race and battle against the smart machines, but rather a constructive collaborative augmentation which will enable sustainability despite massive automation, deskilling of knowledge work and redefinition of professions.

IT-Induced Employment Irregularities and Deskilling: Impacts on Temporary Worker Welfare

Abstract: Temporary and part-time workers constitute an important and increasing segment of the workforce in the United States. In this theoretical paper, we examine the impact of IT-induced employment irregularities and deskilling on physical and mental health and economic well-being of such workers. We draw upon stress process theory, job strain model and job design literature to posit direct and indirect effects of IT-induced employment irregularities and deskilling on worker-level outcomes. This paper contributes to the IS literature by focusing on two related, underexamined phenomena – IT-induced employment irregularities and deskilling – that have the potential to impact temporary workers significantly. We introduce new concepts to the IS literature, such as work hour inadequacy, variability and unpredictability, which may be relevant in diverse employment contexts. We hope this paper motivates IS scholars to conduct rigorous theoretical and empirical research, examining economic, social and health outcomes of IT and AI use on workers.