1.         GWD-8-Q25-Q28

Jon Clark’s study of the effect of

the modernization of a telephone

exchange on exchange maintenance

Line      work and workers is a solid contribution

(5)       to a debate that encompasses two

lively issues in the history and social-

ogy of technology: technological

determinism and social constructivism.

Clark makes the point that the char-

(10)      acteristics of a technology have a

decisive influence on job skills and

work organization. Put more strongly,

technology can be a primary determi-

nant of social and managerial organ-

(15)      ization. Clark believes this possibility

has been obscured by the recent soci-

ological fashion, exemplified by

Braverman’s analysis, that emphasizes

the way machinery reflects social

(20)      choices. For Braverman, the shape of

a technological system is subordinate

to the manager’s desire to wrest control

of the labor process from the

workers. Technological change is

(25)      construed as the outcome of negotiations

among interested parties who

seek to incorporate their own interests

into the design and configuration of the

machinery. This position represents

(30)      the new mainstream called social con-

structivism.

The constructivists gain acceptance

by misrepresenting technological deter-

minism: technological determinists are

(35)      supposed to believe, for example, that

machinery imposes appropriate forms

of order on society. The alternative to

constructivism, in other words, is to

view technology as existing outside

(40)      society, capable of directly influencing

skills and work organization.

Clark refutes the extremes of the

constructivists by both theoretical and

empirical arguments. Theoretically he

(45)      defines “technology” in terms of relationships

between social and technical

variables. Attempts to reduce the

meaning of technology to cold, hard

metal are bound to fail, for machinery

(50)      is just scrap unless it is organized

functionally and supported by approp-

riate systems of operation and main-

tenance. At the empirical level Clark

shows how a change at the telephone

(55)      exchange from maintenance-intensive

electromechanical switches to semi-

electronic switching systems altered

work tasks, skills, training opportunities,

administration, and organization of

(60)      workers. Some changes Clark attri-

butes to the particular way management

and labor unions negotiated the intro-

duction of the technology, whereas

others are seen as arising from the

(65)      capabilities and nature of the technol-

ogy itself. Thus Clark helps answer

the question: “When is social choice

decisive and when are the concrete

characteristics of technology more

important?”

这个alternative到底是谁的观点？是结构主义的观点么？但是从后面的capable of directly influencing skills and work organization.来看，似乎这个观点表达的内容和Clark的观点一样阿。。。