DESKILLING

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2011

Deskilling is the process by which division of labor and technological development has led to the reduction of the scope of an individual's work to one, or a few, specialized tasks.

In deskilling, work is fragmented, and individuals lose the integrated skills and comprehensive knowledge of the crafts persons.

The Deskilling Controversy 
PAUL ATTEWELL, State University of New York at Stony Brook 
Work and Occupations, Vol. 14, No. 3, 323-346 (1987) © 1987 SAGE Publications
The thesis that capitalism continues to degrade and deskill work in the twentieth century, creating an ever more unskilled proletariat, has been forcefully argued by Harry Braverman and his colleagues. In this article I present a series of theoretical, empirical, and methodological criticisms of the deskilling position, drawing upon a diverse literature, and upon original research. Particular attention is given to the application of the deskilling thesis to contemporary trends in the computerization of clerical work, as a way of highlighting methodological weaknesses in the deskilling approach. - wox.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/3/323

The Deskilling Debate, New Technology and Work Organization 
Stephen Wood, London School of Economics and Harvard Center for European Studies 
Acta Sociologica, Vol. 30, No. 1, 3-24 (1987) DOI: 10.1177/000169938703000101.
Taking as its starting point what has become known as the British labour process debate, this paper discusses some of the developing ideas within what the author charactenzes as its third wave. In particular it focuses on the question of alternatives to Taylonsm and the concept of skill. Rather than assuming the dominance of Taylonsm (or superiority of flexible forms of organization), it is more useful to start from an appreciation of the limits of and contradictions within scientific management. A central problem which has bedevilled the post-Braverman debate about both new forms of work organization and the concept of skill is the centrality accorded to a um dimensional concept of control The paper points to the need to get away from this and for a broader discussion of skill which includes consideration of the 'social construction of skill', tacit knowledge, and the sexual division of labour. The author links this discussion to the question of 'new' technologies, showing for example that the notion of tacit skills cautions against assuming they deskill most jobs, because such existing skill may be vital for their successful implementation. An examination of both the effects of recession on work organization and Japanese management further highlights some of the issues raised by the third wave of labour process debate - asj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/3

Deskilling: myth and reality 
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Source: Management Development Review, Volume 10, Number 4, 1997, pp. 141-142(2)
Abstract: The idea that companies should provide their employees with less training, not more, is about as fashionable as the beehive hairstyle. Explores the link between training and a quality culture. - ingentaconnect.com

The deskilling of social work: Turning the tide
Patrick Ayre, University of Luton, United Kingdom 
This paper sets out to explore the impact of key aspects of recent management culture on professional social work practice. Particular attention will be paid to the following:
· Managerialism, Macdonaldisation and the audit culture
· The incipient transformation of social work from a professional to a technical activity
· The rôle of proceduralisation in this transformation 
· Brief lessons from control system theory about the use of feedforward and feedback controls within social work.
Discussion will not be confined to a rather sterile denunciation of managerialism and its impact. It will be recognised that managerial did not ‘just happen’. It is not simply an accidental aberrance; rather it came to prominence in answer to real and acute pressures. Cries for change which do not recognise and respond to the pressures out of which managerialism arose are likely to make little lasting impression. 
Leaning particularly on examples drawn from developments in recent years within the field of child protection, this paper seeks to engage practitioners, managers and educators in identifying the processes which have come to bear within their own fields of work. It will encourage the development of alternative responses to these processes which build the capabilities and confidence of social workers rather than undermining and deskilling them. - icms.com.au/ifsw/abstract/248.htm

Deskilling and reskilling within the labour process: The case of computer integrated manufacturing 
Andrew Agnewa, Paul Forresterb, John Hassardc and Stephen Procterd 
Abstract: The deskilling/reskilling controversy within the labour process debate is considered within the context of the implementation of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Effective implementation of CIM is shown to require an appreciation of the social and organizational issues associated with organizational change. As such the deskilling/reskilling issue is worthy of analysis within the CIM context and aspects of the labour process debate are examined. The effects of technological change on the skills of shopfloor oerators and supervisors are examined by analysing two dimensions of skill, technical complexity and discretion or autonomy. The paper concludes that the outcomes of technical change are framed by managerial perceptions and consequent decisions on how technology should be implemented in terms of work organisation. - sciencedirect.com

Numerical Control Machining and the Issue of Deskilling - An Empirical View - Gilbert Zicklin, Montclair State College 
Work and Occupations, Vol. 14, No. 3, 452-466 (1987) DOI: 10.1177/0730888487014003007 © 1987 SAGE Publications
Empirical research and analytic thinking about the effects of numerical control (NC) machining on the skills of machinists present a mixed view of the issue. Some researchers and analysts report that the operation of NC equipment requires more overall skill than that of conventional machines, while others suggest that only the types of skills may be different. Still others claim that a radical deskilling of machinists has been taking place. Differences in definition of skill account for some divergent views, but the issue is more than semantic. Interviews with a small group of machinists experienced in both conventional and NC matching suggest that seven major factors affect whether the introduction of NC machining leads to a change in overall skill level or in the skill mix. The interview data do not support the deskilling hypothesis. - wox.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/3/452

Patterns of Skill Change: Upskilling, Deskilling or the Polarization of Skills? 
Duncan Gallie, Nuffield College OXFORD OX1 1NF 
Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 5, No. 3, 319-351 (1991) DOI: 10.1177/0950017091005003002 © 1991 BSA Publications Ltd.
The debate about the long-term direction of skill trends has occupied a central place in economic sociology, but there has been a virtual absence of relevant representative data. This paper draws on a major new source of survey data to assess three perspectives on skill change. Using a number of different indicators of skill, it examines whether changes in the occupational structure do reflect an expansion of higher skilled jobs. It then considers the extent to which people have experienced upskilling or deskilling within occupational classes. Finally, it looks at the implications of the growth of the service sector, of technological change and of gender for the distribution of skills and for the experience of skill change. It concludes that, while there is little evidence of extensive deskilling, there has been a marked tendency towards the polarization of skills in the 1980s. - wes.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/3/319

Class and the Changing Nature of Work: Testing Hypotheses of Deskilling and Convergence among Swedish Employees 
Jan O. Jonsson, Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University 
Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 12, No. 4, 603-633 (1998) DOI: 10.1177/0950017098124002 © 1998 BSA Publications Ltd.
The changing nature of work is often supposed to be of consequence for interest formation and political alliances between social classes. Three hypotheses are tested: classes converge due to the deskilling of white-collar work or the upskilling of blue-collar work; lower white-collar workers essentially share the conditions of manual workers; the gender dimension cross-cuts the class dimension. Empirical analyses are carried out on the Swedish Level of Living Surveys in 1968, 1974, 1981 and 1991. The major trend is towards an upskilling, though jobs have not become less monotonous. There are signs of class convergence, e.g., in wages and authority, but sharp differences remain. While class divisions exist for both men and women, gender differences within classes are substantial for physical working conditions and market capacity. For several indicators, lower white-collar workers are exposed to similar conditions as manual workers while men in the highest stratum stand out as the consistently most privileged. - wes.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/4/603

DESKILLING, DECOLLECTIVIZATION, AND DIESELS 
Toward a New Focus in the Study of Changing Skills 
GERARD J. GRZYB 
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 19, No. 2, 163-187 (1990) DOI: 10.1177/089124190019002001 © 1990 SAGE Publications
Insufficient attention has been paid to the social dimensions of skill in the ongoing investigation of deskilling. This article seeks to stimulate critical analysis of the impact of skill changes on work-based social relationships among workers by presenting a case study of the effect of dieselization on locomotive engineers. The study shows that a particular skill made obsolete by the transition from steam to diesel locomotives had greater importance for the formation and maintenance of an occupational community among engineers than the many other skills required of them. The data also suggest that the loss may have led to a deterioration of the community. Implications for workers' collective power are considered, along with other concerns for future analyses of changing skill requirements. - jce.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/2/163

Gifted Education and the Deskilling of Classroom Teachers 
Mara Sapon-Shevin, University of North Dakota 
Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 41, No. 1, 39-48 (1990) DOI: 10.1177/002248719004100106 © 1990 American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Regular classroom teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of the development of a pullout gifted program in their district. Teachers' satisfaction with the selection process, their interactions with parents about the gifted program, and the ways in which the gifted program affected their conceptions of giftedness and of their own classrooms were examined. The article explores the extent to which the labeling process required teachers to accept, interpret, and justify a largely externally- made decision that affected teachers' classrooms. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which discrete gifted programs and teacher education programs that prepare gifted teachers may contribute to the deskilling of regular classroom teachers and a diminished sense of their ability and responsibility for meeting the educational needs of all children within heterogeneous classrooms. - jte.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/1/39

NVQs: Training for Competence or a Process of Deskilling? 
Marshall, K. S. 
Source: International Journal of Lifelong Education, v13 n1 p43-49 Jan-Feb 1994 
Abstract: Compares the National Council for Vocational Qualifications model for assessing skilled performance with traditional British approaches. Concludes that the model is rigid and inflexible and can lead to deskilling. 

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