【OG18 RC517-528】Jon Clark's study文章精析

Jon Clark's study of the effect of the modernization of a telephone exchange on exchange maintenance work and workers is a solid contribution to a debate that encompasses two lively issues in the history andsociology of technology: technological determinism and social constructivism.（文段一句话，讲的是JON的研究对于 techdeterminism & social constructivism的debate颇有贡献）

Clark makes the point that the characteristics of a technology have a decisive influence on jobskills and work organization. Put more strongly, technology can be a primary determinant of social and managerial organization. Clark believes this possibility has been obscured by the recentsociological fashion, exemplified by Braverman's analysis, that emphasizes the way machinery reflects social choices. For Braverman, the shape of a technological systemis subordinate to themanager's desire to wrest control of the labor process from the workers. （科技系统是附属于manager们对于从工人们那儿重夺对劳动过程控制的渴望. Wrest control重新夺取控制权） Technological change is construed被解释 as the outcome of negotiations among interested parties who seek to incorporatetheir own interests into the design and configuration of the machinery. This position represents the new mainstream called social constructivism.

The constructivists gain acceptance by misrepresenting technological determinism: technological determinists are supposed to believe, for example, that machinery imposes appropriate forms of order on society. The alternative to constructivism(其实指techdeterminism，用了种晦涩的说法), in other words, is to view technology as existing outside society,capable of directly influencing skills and work organization.

Clark refutes the extremes of theconstructivists by both theoretical and empirical经验主义 arguments. Theoretically he defines "technology" in terms of relationships between social andtechnical variables. Attempts to reduce the meaning of technology to cold, hardmetal are bound to注定要 fail, for machinery is just scrap报废 unless it is organized functionally andsupported by appropriate systems of operation and maintenance. At the empirical level Clark shows how a change at the telephone exchange frommaintenance-intensive electromechanical switches to semielectronic switchingsystems altered work tasks, skills, training opportunities, administration, andorganization of workers[url=].[/url][这里其实是在讲，一个tech上的变化（about telephone exchange），alter了tasks, skills,等等] Some changes Clark attributes to the particular way management and laborunions negotiated the introduction of the technology, whereas others are seenas arising from the capabilities and nature of the technology itself[url=].[/url][承接上一句话，这其中的变化，有些是negotiation （about the introduction of tech），有些变化是来源于technology的nature； 此时，本段第一句被echo了，Clark是在refute constructivist的extreme，即只看到了negotiations这一部分，而忽略了nature of technology Thus Clark helps answer the question: "When is social choice decisive and whenare the concrete characteristics of technology more important?"[对以上阐述的总结]

文章结构：

P1: Jon Clark’s study provide contribute to the debate of Tech deter VS social constru [active reading: 什么样的contribution？接下来会展开]

P2: Clark’s point about the tech – primary determinant [Clark支持tech这一方]；Raised up opposite ideas – tech is subordinateto …

P3: Constructivist gain by … MISrepresenting [这段话表明了tech被广为了解的地位，被social construction misrepresent了嘛]

P4: How Clark refute the extremes of the constructivists by ..., thus answer...

Primary meaning看完以上很清晰，并没有作者的观点，而是以Clark视角为主的阐述

文章难点：

1. 长难句偏多

    策略：考试时应抓住重点，判断情绪高低，social 和 tech之间的关系，不必过于深究是如何的正面负面关系

2. 有一些晦涩的表达，教为抽象

   策略：每看一篇留心一些晦涩的表达，弄懂

3. 题目长，表达晦涩

   策略：熟悉每一种体型下的晦涩问法，着以记录

题目暂时今天没时间具体贴上来啦，如果有看到有小伙伴需要的话我会陆续补上，分手成功也不会忘记的约定：）

12.1 考，许愿高分分手，希望能整理自己的各种资料回馈CD！！

晚安 chasedream & CDers

2018.11.28