再问GWD 8－25 以前的帖子都没怎么涉及这题啊

kathy8446

Q25 to 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 determinant

of social and managerial organ-

(15)   ization. Clark believes this possibility

has been obscured by the recent sociological

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 constructivism.

The constructivists gain acceptance

by misrepresenting technological determinism:

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 appropriate

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 semielectronic

switching systems altered

work tasks, skills, training opportunities,

administration, and organization of

(60)   workers. Some changes Clark attributes

to the particular way management

and labor unions negotiated the introduction

of the technology, whereas

others are seen as arising from the

(65)   capabilities and nature of the technology

itself. Thus Clark helps answer

the question: “When is social choice

decisive and when are the concrete

characteristics of technology more

important?”

25、The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. advocate a more positive attitude toward technological change

B. discuss the implications for employees of the modernization of a telephone exchange

C. consider a successful challenge to the constructivist view of technological change

D. challenge the position of advocates of technological determinism

E. suggest that the social causes of technological change should be studied in real situations

以前帖子里的相关讨论主要就是 http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=25&ID=96713

似乎没有最终确定。。。A/C？

wycg

同意选C.

大家讨论一下!!!