Work Transformed : Automation and Labor in the Computer Age

New technology, based on computers and microelectronics, appear to be everywhere. What is being automated is not simply the typing of a letter with a word processor or the welding of a car body with a robot, but the collection, transfer, and control of information. Certainly, the technical potential is there for new systems to be designed in a way that both enriches life on the job and benefits society. Will these new technologies spur economic growth and the creation of new jobs or will they be introduced in a way that decimates employment? Will automation free workers from soul-destroying work or will it lay the basis for subordinating people to machines in a new and degrading way? Will computerization be used to rebuild the nation's industrial base or will it facilitate the ability of multinational corporations to operate independently of any given country? In this boo, I argue that the answers to these vital questions are not predetermined and depend on more than the technical capabilities of computers and microelectronics. The technology provides choices; what is selected depends on who does the choosing and with what purpose in mind.The following chapters explore the nature of the technological choices now being made, the ways in which they affect life on the job, and the changes they are spurring in the structure of the workplace. I want to uncover the social and economic forces that mold automation itself, and probe the other possibilities for structuring work the might be available.