The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century
(summary by Anthony Roberson)
This selection is expressing different views about technology and its impact upon society. One view by Harry Braverman supports the claim that capitalism has taken away the craftsmanship in the work place through the consequences of accepting Taylorism, introduced by its originator Frederick Winslow Taylor.
Taylor's system can be summarized in three principles. One is that traditional knowledge is gathered into the hands of management. Braverman states this is "the dissociation of the labor process from the skills of workers". Two, conception of task is separated from its execution. This means that management decides what needs to be done and the workers follow those instructions of orders. Three, management uses its monopoly over knowledge to control each step of the labor process. No detail, however small, is left to the individual worker(Braverman).
Taking a look at society and the work force as a capitalistic system today we can see how society and technology has been developed through Taylorism ideas. For example, I know personally of quite of few companies and organizations that dictates procedures and rules to their employees. There are jobs where you must arrive at a prescribed time for allocated amount of hours with an expectation for a measured quantity of work. In sales for large department stores there are quotas established for merchandise to be sold, at factories have required amounts to meet for assembly, and social services have a number of clients and cases to process or attend to.
It's these procedures and standardization that Braverman is implying has caused the degradation of work in the twentieth century. Taylor has organized and brought what he calls a more structured way of dealing with the biggest obstacle to obtain maximum output from a worker through the workers inclination to purposely adapt a slow pace in the work place. This process is called "soldiering" in the jargon of the day. This process of becoming more efficient and change to a more scientific management seem to have become accepted in our society -but contradicts to the though of reasoning of a Marxist idealism.