Effects of deskilling +++

Question 1

leads to the alienation of workers

Answer 1

Alienation is the situation whereby workers lack power and control at work. As skills are replaced by technology, the worker has no job satisfaction or sense of personal fulfilment and creativity from their work.

deskilling/technology increases extrinsic or instrumental attitudes to work; this means the most important thing about a job is the wages and not the job itself.

Blauner believed the degree of alienation and job satisfaction was influenced by the level of technology and the extent of division of labour used at work. Skilled craft workers had the highest levels of job satisfaction as they had pride in the work they produced. workers involved in routine, repetitive work, requiring little skill in mechanised had high levels of alienation and an instrumental approach to work.

Question 2

leads to the alienation of workers A03

Answer 2

Marxists say Blauner puts too much emphasis on technology as the cause of alienation. The real cause of alienation is capitalist ownership as workers have little control over the labour process (how things are made), they do not own the products they make as profits go the capitalist owner, and workers may not even be able to afford the products they make.

Question 3

leads to poor employer-employee relations

Answer 3

Blauner said when workers are alienated they develop a high level of distrust of employers; they think employers will always put profits before the interests of workers. This leads to conflict with management and strike action can take place as workers try to get back at employers.

Workers see their work as meaninglessness as they only make a small part of a finished product which they may never see. In the Fordist method of production, workers feel isolated from other workers. high levels of absenteeism and a high turnover of workers as many leave the job as it is so boring.

Moreover, with workers feeling so alienated they often produce poor quality goods or offer a poor service to customers.

Question 4

poor employer-employee relations A03:

Answer 4

Blauner’s ideas are out of date; they are applied to only the early model of Fordist assembly line production. Today, the use of computer technology has meant that work involves much higher levels of satisfaction.

Question 5

leads to unemployment

Answer 5

Technological unemployment is considered to be part of a wider concept known as structural unemployment. When labour saving machines are introduced into the productive process, a firm can get rid of workers and produce more goods than before. This will lower production costs, increase levels of production and lead to greater profits.

With artificial intelligence, the computer scientist Vardi claimed machines could put more than half the world’s population out of a job in the next 30 years. In the past, technology replaced labouring jobs, but AI will lead to machines doing jobs that require more cognitive skills. Workers in transport, office support (such as receptionists and security guards), sales and services (such as cashiers, and accountants) faced a high risk of unemployment from computerisation.

Question 6

unemployment A03:

Answer 6

employment opportunities are on the surge for workers whose skills are complementary to new technology, for instance workers skilled and educated in IT and engineering related disciplines. In terms of employment, technology is benefitting those with greater analytical, problem solving and creative skills