OG 阅读求解

KellyLu961031

     求解释这个OG阅读，蓝色highlight的部分。我不太理解，明明说的是the alternative to constructism, 怎么又代表constructism 的意见了？



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 and

sociology of technology: technological determinism

and social constructivism.

     Clark makes the point that the characteristics 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

organization. Clark believes this possibility has

been obscured by the recent sociological fashion,

exemplified by Braverman’s analysis, that emphasizes

the way machinery reflects social 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 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 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, in other words, is to view technology


as existing outside society, capable of directly


influencing skills and work organization.

     Clark refutes the extremes of the constructivists

by both theoretical and empirical arguments.

Theoretically he 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 is

just scrap unless it is organized functionally and

supported by appropriate systems of operation and

maintenance. At the empirical level Clark shows how

a change at the telephone exchange from

maintenance-intensive electromechanical switches

to semielectronic switching systems altered work

tasks, skills, training opportunities, administration,

and organization of 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 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?”



4. (Book Question: 520)
The information in the passage suggests that which of the following statements from hypothetical sociological studies of change in industry most clearly exemplifies the social constructivists’ version of technological determinism?
A.        It is the available technology that determines workers’ skills, rather than workers’ skills influencing the application of technology.
B.        All progress in industrial technology grows out of a continuing negotiation between technological possibility and human need.
C.        Some organizational change is caused by people; some is caused by computer chips.
D.        Most major technological advances in industry have been generated through research and development.
E.        Some industrial technology eliminates jobs, but educated workers can create whole new skills areas by the adaptation of the technology.




Correct Answer: A
Selected Answer: C
Application
This question requires understanding different points of view discussed in the passage. In the first paragraph, the passage mentions the debate involving technological determinism and social constructivism. In the second and third paragraphs, the passage uses Braverman’s analysis to illustrate the social constructivists’ position and in the third paragraph suggests that the constructivists are misrepresenting technological determinism (line 24). In lines 29–30, the constructivists are reported to hold that technological determinism views technology as existing outside society, capable of directly influencing skills and work organization.

A   Correct. This statement is consistent with the constructivists’ view that technological determinism sees technology as outside of society, influencing workers’ skills.
B   The passage states that the constructivists hold that technological determinists are supposed to believe . . . that machinery imposes appropriate forms of order on society (lines 25–27), suggesting that no negotiation is present.
C   According to the description of them in the passage, constructivists portray technological determinists as believing that technology, not people, drives organizational change.
D   The passage does not portray either constructivists or determinists as being concerned with technological research and development.
E   The passage does not portray either constructivists or determinists as being concerned with technology-driven job elimination or creation.