Line | Jon Clarks study of the effect of the modernization |
| of a telephone exchange on exchange maintenance |
| work and workers is a solid contribution to a debate |
| that encompasses two lively issues in the history and |
(5) | sociology of technology: technological determinism |
| and social constructivism. |
| Clark makes the point that the characteristics of a |
| technology have a decisive influence on job skills and |
| work organization. Put more strongly, technology can |
(10) | be a primary determinant of social and managerial |
| organization. Clark believes this possibility has |
| been obscured by the recent sociological fashion, |
| exemplified by Bravermans analysis, that emphasizes |
| the way machinery reflects social choices. For |
(15) | Braverman, the shape of a technological system is |
| subordinate to the managers desire to wrest control |
| of the labor process from the workers. Technological |
| change is construed as the outcome of negotiations |
| among interested parties who seek to incorporate |
(20) | their own interests into the design and configuration |
| of the machinery. This position represents the new |
| mainstream called social constructivism. |
| The constructivists gain acceptance by |
| misrepresenting technological determinism: |
(25) | technological determinists are supposed to believe, |
| for example, that machinery imposes appropriate |
| forms of order on society. The alternative to |
| constructivism, in other words, is to view technology |
| as existing outside society, capable of directly |
(30) | influencing skills and work organization. |
| Clark refutes the extremes of the constructivists |
| by both theoretical and empirical arguments. |
| Theoretically he defines technology in terms of |
| relationships between social and technical variables. |
(35) | Attempts to reduce the meaning of technology to |
| cold, hard metal are bound to fail, for machinery is |
| just scrap unless it is organized functionally and |
| supported by appropriate systems of operation and |
| maintenance. At the empirical level Clark shows how |
(40) | a change at the telephone exchange from |
| maintenance-intensive electromechanical switches |
| to semielectronic switching systems altered work |
| tasks, skills, training opportunities, administration, |
| and organization of workers. Some changes Clark |
(45) | attributes to the particular way management and |
| labor unions negotiated the introduction of the |
| technology, whereas others are seen as arising from |
| the capabilities and nature of the technology itself. |
| Thus Clark helps answer the question: When is |
(50) | social choice decisive and when are the concrete |
| characteristics of technology more important? |