Showing papers on "Deskilling published in 2021"

Digital Agriculture and Labor: A Few Challenges for Social Sustainability

Abstract: Academic and political debates on the digitalization of agriculture have addressed sustainability mainly from an ecological perspective. Social sustainability, particularly questions of labor, has been largely neglected in the literature thus far. This is particularly problematic since digitalization could fundamentally change farming practices and labor processes on farms, with possibly far-reaching consequences for rural development, rural communities as well as migrant laborers. Looking at the case study of Germany, this article asks how digital technologies are changing labor processes on horticultural and arable farms. The aim of this paper is to bring labor into the debates around agriculture and digitalization and to offer a detailed picture of the impacts of digital technologies on labor in agriculture. The case study builds on fourteen in-depth interviews conducted from June 2020 to March 2021, participant observation, and digital ethnography. The results show new forms of labor control and an intensification of the work process linked to methods of digital Taylorism, as well as risks of working-class fragmentation along age lines. A deskilling of workers or farmers due to digitalization has not been observed. The suggestion of an increased dependency of workers due to the loss of employment opportunities in agriculture is contested. The results stress the importance of designing agricultural policies that foster fair and equitable working conditions.

Democracy Against Labor Movement: Japan’s Anti-Labor Developmental State and Aftermaths:

Abstract: This paper investigates the labor-controlling orientation of the Japanese developmental state and its consequences today. Developmental state studies has given us a robust epistemological grid wher...

Not All Syrian Doctors Become Taxi Drivers: Stagnation and Continuity Among Highly Educated Syrians in Norway

Abstract: Many studies of forced migration have documented processes of deskilling and falls in status resulting from an inability to convert capital from one context to another. This article relies on qualitative interviews with highly educated individuals who arrived in Norway in the wake of the Syrian crisis. In the material, narratives of stagnation, loss and struggle against bureaucracy are highly salient and persist over time. I coin the term mobility dissonance to describe this post-migration stressor—the dissonance between physical mobility across borders and a sense of (not) going anywhere in life. By following some informants over time, this study indicates how classed resources can also represent an element of continuity through the critical life course events that forced migration entails. Descriptions of mobility dissonance are thus part of a more nuanced picture. While hopelessness and loss are very salient in the interviews, following informants over time provides lived examples of how classed resources represent an important form of continuity. Continuity refers to a counter-narrative to the riches-to-rags story often attached to resourceful forced migrants. I suggest future research to pay more attention to classed resources as a potential source of continuity through the migration process.

Deskilling unpacked: Comparing Filipino and Polish migrant nurses’ professional experiences in Norway

Abstract: This article offers empirically based analytical scrutiny of what deskilling looks like and means for migrant nurses. We draw on 30 interviews with Filipino and Polish nurse migrants in Oslo, Norway, which we analyze comparatively. Through empirical attention to nurse migrants’ professional experiences, we address the analytically oriented question of what constitutes deskilling in their experience. Concerns over deskilling, in relation to nurse migration and beyond, prompt attention to instances of human capital not being employed in meaningful and productive ways. We argue that attention to migrants’ professional identities provides analytical opportunity to better unpack what deskilling entails. Borrowing from theorization of identities, deskilling as linked to migrants’ professional identities is understood as dynamic, processual, and situated. We propose that deskilling should be understood as part of the multi-dimensional and interacting processes of de-, re-, and upskilling. We find cases of obvious and wasteful deskilling related to authorization procedures for non-EU-trained nurses, but also instances where it may be disputable whether human resources are used well, or not, and cases of upskilling and reskilling over time. Our findings uncover three core insights. First, our approach to deskilling reveals both the scope for and the salience of migrants’ agency, despite structural constraints. Second, the importance of time and of capturing change over time in migration research becomes apparent. Third, we argue that improved conceptualizations of deskilling, linked to migrants’ professional identities, could inform policies that make better use of migrants’ human capital, and through this also contribute to migrants’ well-being.

Perceived Employability of Highly Skilled Migrant Women in STEM: Insights from Labor Market Intermediaries’ Professionals

Abstract: While global economies are in a tremendous need for talented workers that could fill vacancies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, available evidence shows that highly skilled migrants with a background in these fields are not protected from brain waste and deskilling. In this paper, we add to the previous literature on the employability of highly skilled migrant women from the specific—and under-investigated—perspective of labor market intermediaries. We specifically investigate what the barriers and resources are for employability of highly skilled migrant women in STEM, as perceived by labor market intermediaries’ professionals; and what the training needs are that labor market intermediaries’ professionals perceive to effectively work with this target group. We use unique explorative survey data collected in 2018 in five countries (Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom) from professionals working in diverse labor market intermediary organizations. We find that these professionals perceive the employability of migrant women in STEM as rather low, and strongly determined by migrant women’s psychological capital. Professionals in Southern Europe perceive structural barriers as more important than those in other countries. Professionals display training needs related to ad-hoc mentoring and networking competences for this specific target group. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Upskilling, Deskilling or Polarisation? Evidence on Change in Skills in Europe:

Abstract: What are the directions of change in the complexity of work and the required skill levels of the labour force in Europe? Three prominent strands of literature suggest conflicting expectations – ups...

The tension between managerial and critical professional discourses in social work

Abstract: SummaryWhile managerialism is widely criticized for its deskilling effect on professional discourses, the evaluation of the power relations between managerialism and the critical professionalism th

The dark side of the industrialisation of accountancy: innovation, commoditization, colonization and competitiveness

Abstract: Technological innovation continues to play a fundamental role in disrupting many industries, but the impacts of digital innovation on accountancy and its effect on firms and individuals remain some...

Skilled immigrant women's career trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

Abstract: Purpose: Despite immigrant-receiving countries' need for skilled professionals to meet labour demands, research suggests that many skilled migrants undergo deskilling, downward career mobility, underemployment, unemployment and talent waste, finding themselves in low-skilled occupations that are not commensurate to their education and experience. Skilled immigrant women face additional gendered disadvantages, including a disproportionate domestic burden, interrupted careers and gender segmentation in occupations and organizations. This study explores how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacted skilled newcomer women's labour market outcomes and work experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors draw on 50 in-depth questionnaires with skilled women to elaborate on their work experiences during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: The pandemic pushed skilled immigrant women towards unemployment, lower-skilled or less stable employment. Most study participants had their career trajectory delayed, interrupted or reversed due to layoffs, decreased job opportunities and increased domestic burden. The pandemic's gendered nature and the reliance on work-from-home arrangements and online job search heightened immigrant women's challenges due to limited social support and increased family responsibilities. Originality/value: This paper adds to the conversation of increased integration challenges under pandemic conditions by contextualizing the pre-pandemic literature on immigrant work integration to the pandemic environment. Also, this paper contributes a better understanding of the gender dynamics informing the COVID-19 socio-economic climate. © 2021, Luciara Nardon, Amrita Hari, Hui Zhang, Liam P.S. Hoselton and Aliya Kuzhabekova.

Induced technology hypothesis. Acemoglu and Marx on deskilling (skill replacing) innovations

Abstract: The paper hypothesizes that the worldwide market-friendly political/institutional transformations of the early 1980s had an impact on the direction of technological change. Their crucial effect was...

Losing practices, relationships and agency: ecological deskilling as a consequence of the uptake of modern seed varieties among South African Smallholders

Abstract: Technological changes embedded in the processes of agrarian modernization have profoundly reshaped agricultural environments, practices, discourses and institutions worldwide. This article explores...

Superweed amaranth: metaphor and the power of a threatening discourse

Abstract: This paper analyses the use of metaphor in discourses around the “superweed” Palmer amaranth. Most weed scientists associated with the US public agricultural extension system dismiss the term superweed. However, together with the media, they indirectly encourage aggressive control practices by actively diffusing the framing of herbicide resistant Palmer amaranth as an existential threat that should be eradicated at any cost. We use argumentative discourse analysis to better understand this process. We analyze a corpus consisting of reports, policy briefs, and press releases produced by state extension services, as well as articles from professional and popular magazines and newspapers quoting extension specialists and/or public sector weed scientists or agronomists. We show how the superweed discourse is powered by negative metaphors, and legitimizes aggressive steps to eradicate the weed. This discourse reinforces the farmers’ techno-optimism master frame, contributes to deskilling of farmers and sidelines ethical concerns.

Technology-Skill Complementarity in Early Phases of Industrialization

Abstract: The research explores the effect of industrialization on human capital formation. Exploiting exogenous regional variations in the adoption of steam engines across France, the study establishes that, in contrast to conventional wisdom that views early industrialization as a predominantly deskilling process, the industrial revolution was conducive for human capital formation, generating wide-ranging gains in literacy rates and educational attainment.

Technology upgrading and labor degrading? A sociological study of three robotized factories

Abstract: In recent years, the technology-driven industrial upgrading in China has resulted in human labor being replaced with robots. This article explores the impact of "intelligent manufacturing" on workers from the following two perspectives: labor relations and the labor process. The authors argue that workers on the shopfloor are experiencing some forms of labor degradation due to robotization, i.e., more flexible labor relations, deskilling, and strengthened technical control. Such a corporation-led and machine-centered industrial upgrading is driven by state policy, capital, and the labor market.

The global bases of inequality regimes: the case of international nurse recruitment

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to critically examine Joan Acker's notion of inequality regimes by applying it to the case of global nurse care chains (GNCCs). The article examines the organisational practices of GNCCs and how inequality barriers are practiced and legitimised.,The article is based on qualitative interviews with different institutional representatives involved in Filipino nurse recruitment to Finland (N = 25), recruited Filipino nurses (N = 20) and Filipino nurses working in Finland (N = 9).,The article demonstrates different organisational practices through which inequality regimes are created and sustained. These include the racialised construction of the Philippines as situated in the global periphery and functioning as a resource of labour for the global core and the Filipino nurse as innately more caring. The inequalities are legitimised through deskilling in which the nurses' command of Finnish language is a key form of justification. Filipino nurses' precarious legal status renders them compliant workers from an organisational perspective and vulnerable workers who fear to claim their rights as workers.,By discussing barriers to inequality, the article illustrates how inequalities in diverse workplaces and the undervaluing of nurse work could be addressed.,The article uniquely applies Acker's inequality regimes to the study of GNCCs. It argues that the concept of inequality regimes would benefit from developing it towards a global context.

The Impact of Adoption of Digital Technology on Companies for Prospective Workers

Abstract: This study discusses the impact of technology adoption in companies on prospective workers in Semarang city. 230 respondents consisted of graduates of colleges, high schools and vocational high schools using a simple regression model with smartPLS. The results showed that deskilling, wage, unemployment, education improvement had a significant impact on the adoption of technology in the company. The other side of the companies want to innovate and create efficiency, but it has consequences that need to be adjusted by potential workers with technological changes in the industry. Deskilling and wage have the highest impact for some of the resources in the company must be replaced with more efficient technology, and automatically unskilled labour is eliminated by the presence of new technologies. This research is expected to provide input to the world of education and the prospective workers to continue to improve the skills of adjusting era.

Deskilling and reskilling of political refugees in the Republic of Korea: an actor-network analysis

Abstract: This qualitative case study applied the actor-network theory to trace the deskilling and reskilling of political refugees in the Republic of Korea. The investigation revealed that refugees’ skills ...

Developing Workplace Innovation Policies in the European Union

Abstract: Developing organisational performance and job quality simultaneously has been an issue in European countries since the introduction of ‘scientific management’ more than 100 years ago. How to prevent ‘deskilling’ and ‘intensification’? After the Second World War policies have been developed to improve both productivity and job quality by, amongst other things, stimulating management—worker cooperation. However, these endeavours had to be reinforced regularly because the market mechanism does not provide a good jobs economy by itself. From the 1990s, the European Union developed a series of policies on ‘work organisation’, later ‘workplace innovation’. The newest challenge is to complement technological innovation with workplace innovation.

The Impact of Technological Change on Labor: The Japanese Silk Weaving Industry during the Industrial Revolution

Abstract: The impact of the Industrial Revolution on labor has long attracted the interest of economists as well as economic historians, and recent technological changes and changes in the labor market have newly raised interest in this issue. The accepted view is that technological change in the Industrial Revolution was deskilling and lowered the wage of workers. This paper reexamines this view, by investigating the silk weaving industry in early twentieth-century Japan, which experienced the Industrial Revolution. Power looms, a major technological innovation in the Industrial Revolution, substituted for routine tasks of handloom weavers, and thereby made weavers concentrate on nonroutine tasks, such as stopping looms and supplying warp or weft when it ran out and connecting threads when they broke. Using the model of Autor et al. (2003) and newly constructed plant-level panel data, this paper studies the implications of this change in labor for wages. We find that adoption of power looms was associated with significant increases in the wage of both female and male adult workers, playing a central role in weaving, which suggests the need for revision of the view that technological change in the Industrial Revolution was deskilling.

Intelligent Decision Assistance Versus Automated Decision-Making: Enhancing Knowledge Work Through Explainable Artificial Intelligence

Abstract: While recent advances in AI-based automated decision-making have shown many benefits for businesses and society, they also come at a cost. It has for long been known that a high level of automation of decisions can lead to various drawbacks, such as automation bias and deskilling. In particular, the deskilling of knowledge workers is a major issue, as they are the same people who should also train, challenge and evolve AI. To address this issue, we conceptualize a new class of DSS, namely Intelligent Decision Assistance (IDA) based on a literature review of two different research streams -- DSS and automation. IDA supports knowledge workers without influencing them through automated decision-making. Specifically, we propose to use techniques of Explainable AI (XAI) while withholding concrete AI recommendations. To test this conceptualization, we develop hypotheses on the impacts of IDA and provide first evidence for their validity based on empirical studies in the literature.

Invisible diaspora: A scoping review of migrant caregivers’ social integration trajectory

Abstract: Background: The Canadian Caregiver program, initiated in 1992, functions to conceal the inadequate public policy and programs on child and elder care in Canada. Consequently, migrant caregivers have become an invisible diaspora filling a domestic labour gap with few protections. Aim and Methods: This scoping review aims to identify the systemic barriers that undermine social integration of migrant caregivers. We searched ten publication index databases from 2001-2020. We retrieved 1,624 articles, after accounting for exclusion criteria, 22 peer-reviewed articles were selected for this review representing migrant women across Canada who are and/or were part of the program. Results: Four key barriers were identified: economic exploitation, deskilling and downward occupational mobility, asymmetrical accountability, and social isolation. Conclusion: Discriminatory policies and hidden exploitative employment practices of the Canadian Caregiver program perpetuate a cycle of marginalization. This review also found that community support groups and alliances function to promote resilience among migrant caregivers through community advocacy.

Professional Competence as a Subject of Competence Diagnostics

Abstract: The determination of the objectives of vocational education and training has always been characterised by the tension between the educational objectives aimed at the development of the personality and qualification requirements of the world of work and the (training) objectives derived from these. In the vocational education discussion, a large number of attempts can be made to resolve this tension in the form of a holistic vocational training concept (Heid, 1999; Ott, 1998). The tradition of mastery (in the broader sense) is often referred to as an example of holistic vocational training. Richard Sennett has examined the social-historical and philosophical roots of mastery in his book Handwerk and has attributed it a significance that goes far beyond institutionalised craftsmanship by opposing mastery to the world of fragmented skills (Sennett, 2008). The emphatic formula of ‘education in the medium of occupation’ probably best represents the ever-new attempts to reconcile education and qualification (Blankertz, 1972). With his deskilling thesis, Harry Braverman classifies such attempts as idealistic misconceptions of reality in the work environment, which is based on the principle of deskilling, at least in industrial work with its processes of the progressive mechanisation of human labour—and subject to the conditions of capitalist value realisation (Braverman, 1974). In the sociological studies initiated by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training Research (BBF) in 1969 on changes in qualification requirements in industrial technical work, the authors confirm this thesis or modify it to form the so-called polarisation thesis, according to which the larger number of those deskilled is contrasted by the smaller number of those more highly qualified: the winners of rationalisation (Baethge et al., 1976; Kern & Schumann, 1970). This stance can occasionally be found in more recent contributions to the discussion. Nico Hirtt sees the Anglo-Saxon tradition of ‘competency-based education’ as an expression of the ‘marketisation of education’ and as a response to a technologically and economically induced ‘low skilled work force’ (Hirtt, 2011, 172).

Adaptation trajectories of dismissed workers: a critical case study of the Lithuanian radio-electronics sector

Abstract: This article explores why some dismissed workers adapt successfully to the changing structure of an economy, while others remain trapped in low-quality jobs and experience deskilling. The associate...

An Analysis of the Labor Process Theory: from Marx to Post Braverman Debate

Abstract: The roots of labor process begins with Marx analyses of how the labor process shifted from simple cooperation to manufacture and modern industrial stage, which resulted in the elimination of the skilled craft workers ability to exercise his judgment and authority over their labor power. Braverman take a new look at the skill, technology and work organization. He argued there is a greater possibility for managerial control which resulted in the wide-range deskilling of the workers. The Labor process debate in late 1970s attempts to include into discussion the important changes in the labor process. The debate over the development of the labor process led to a developing body of theoretical and empirical literature in the sociology of work. The present paper reviews the theoretical contribution of various thinkers to the labor process and to analyze the roots of deskilling or Upskilling of the workers in the labor process.