The Machine at Work

This highly topical book is a concise and accessible account of therelationship between technology and work. Firstly, it reviews andcritically assesses a variety of recent approaches to the socialand cultural dimensions of technology. Secondly, it examines theimplications of these new approaches for existing ideas about thenature of technology and work organization.
At the core of much thinking about technology is the assumptionthat the technical character and capacity of artefacts is given.The enduring image of deus ex machina captures the idea thatit is the essential capacity 'within' a technology which, in theend, accounts for the way we organize ourselves, our work and otherlife experiences. Recent work in the sociology of technology, bycontrast, sets out relativist and constructivist accounts oftechnology, which begin to challenge this central assumption.
The Machine at Work includes a reinterpretation of theLuddites; a review of the social processes of development ininformation technology; a reassessment of theories of the role oftechnology in work; and an analysis of the common limitations ofsome constructivist and feminist perspectives on technology. Thebook argues that only a commitment to a particular conception ofconstructivism enables the kind of radical rethinking abouttechnology and work relations that is needed.
This engaging and informative text will be of interest tostudents in a range of subject areas - from sociology,organizational theory and behaviour, to industrial relations,management and business studies.