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 socialogy of technology: technological determinism and social constructivism. Clark makes the point that the characteristics of a technology have a Gdecisive 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 semi-electronic switching systems altered work tasks, skills, training opportunities, administration, and organization of workers. Some changes Clark attriutes 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?”
GWD-8-Q28:
Which of the following statements about the modernization of the telephone exchange is supported by information in the passage?
A. The new technology reduced the role of managers in labor negotiations.
B. The modernization was implemented without the consent of the employees directly affected by it.
C. The modernization had an impact that went significantly beyond maintenance routines.
D. Some of the maintenance workers felt victimized by the new technology.
E. The modernization gave credence to the view of advocates of social constructivism.
这个答案是怎么来的啊？？求解释！！被这篇阅读搞得死晕！！
GWD-8-Q28:
Which of the following statements about the modernization of the telephone exchange is supported by information in the passage?
A. The new technology reduced the role of managers in labor negotiations.
B. The modernization was implemented without the consent of the employees directly affected by it.
C. The modernization had an impact that went significantly beyond maintenance routines.
D. Some of the maintenance workers felt victimized by the new technology.
E. The modernization gave credence to the view of advocates of social constructivism.
这个答案是怎么来的啊？？求解释！！被这篇阅读搞得死晕！！
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发表于 2012-2-17 16:51:42
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