Sociology 2106A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 5-6: Deskilling, Knowledge Economy, Visible Minority

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2106A/B
• Professor: Anabel Quan- Haase

Document Summary

Adam smith : divisions of labour, technology, repetition: narrows skill, but enhances leads to more productivity. Marx: capitalists will increase surplus value if use technology, organizational change to produce more with less-skilled workers. Skill trends: deskilling: work is fragmented, simpli ed and controlled, such that working requires less skill than it once did. Workers are denied opportunity to use skills formerly exercised at work: skill upgrading: work requires more skill than it once did. Workers have to acquire new skills to keep up. Debates: braverman: control of work is increasingly being removed from workers. Two trends: deskilling, skill polarization: bell: labour market change with the expansion of the service economy leads to skill upgrading. More employment in jobs requiring skill: (today, service sector is actually associated with skill polarization; its distribution is bifurcated) Knowledge economy argument : with technological change, workforce is more educated.