Power in the Workplace

Steven Peter Vallas is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is coeditor, with Kai Erikson, of The Nature of Work: Sociological Perspectives.

"The issues of labor force deskilling versus enskilling, and the questions of why labor has not been more forceful in response to recent economic changes are very significant. The discussion and evidence are central to arguments in the field of the sociology of employment." — Paul Teske, State University of New York at Stony Brook"This is a serious contribution to the labor process debate. I am especially impressed by the way Vallas combines a historical/theoretical approach with his case study." — Philip Kraft, State University of New York at Binghamton

• Abbreviations Preface 1. Introduction 2. Work, Power, and the Monopoly Corporation The Emiseration of Labor?Managerial HegemonyThe Emancipation of Labor?Discussion 3. The Old Regime at AT&T: Taylorism, Paternalism, and Labor Struggle, 1890-1947. Weavers of Speech: The Changing Character of Telephone Work The Feminization of the SwitchboardThe Rationalization of the Labor Process, 1890-1915 The Structure of Labor Control at AT&T A Little Robot of Steel: The Mechanization of Labor Institutionalizing PaternalismTwo Firms, One RegimeConclusion 4. Capital, Labor, and New Technology Technology, Skill, and Power at WorkThe Structure of the Bell System after World War II Tradition Amidst BureaucracyThe 'Real Subordination of Labor' RevisitedThe Nature of Plant Work in Manual C.O.sRationalization and Resistance Information Technology and Work Processes The Automation of Craft WorkThe Automation of Clerical WorkEstimating the Links among Technology, Work, and Alienation Conclusion 5. The Limits of Managerial Hegemony The Dominant Ideology at WorkThe Ideology of ParticipationEconomic Competition and the Workers ResponseSources of Variation in Working-Class ConsciousnessConclusion 6. Conclusion Labor Control in the Monopoly CoreBeyond the New Regime Appendix: Research Methods and Sample Design Notes References Index