XDF-RC-47 Forces of Production

hughlv

PASSAGE 47
*In Forces of Production, David Noble examines thetransformation of the machine-tool industry as the industrymoved from reliance on skilled artisans to automation.Noble writes from a Marxist perspective, and his central
5)argument is that management, in its decisions to automate,conspired against labor: the power that the skilled machin-ists wielded in the industry was intolerable to management.Noble fails to substantiate this claim, although his argu-ment is impressive when he applies the Marxist concept of
10) "de-skilling"—the use of technology to replace skilledlabor—to the automation of the machine-tool industry. Inautomating, the industry moved to computer-based, digi-talized "numerical-control"
(NC) technology, rather than toartisan-generated "record-playback"
RP) technology.
15) Although both systems reduced reliance on skilled labor,Noble clearly prefers R
P, with its inherent acknowledg-ment of workers' skills: unlike N
C, its programs wereproduced not by engineers at their computers, but byskilled machinists, who recorded their own movements to
20)"teach" machines to duplicate those movements. However,Noble's only evidence of conspiracy is that, although thetwo approaches were roughly equal in technical merit,management chose N
C. From this he concludes that auto-mation is undertaken not because efficiency demands it or
25) scientific advances allow it, but because it is a tool inthe ceaseless war of capitalists against labor.

7. Which of the following best characterizes Forces ofProduction as it is described in the passage?
(A) A comparison of two interpretations of how aparticular industry evolved
(B) An examination of the origin of a particular concept in industrial economics
(C) A study that points out the weakness of a particularinterpretation of an industrial phenomenon
(D) A history of a particular industry from anideological point of view
(E) An attempt to relate an industrial phenomenon inone industry to a similar phenomenon in anotherindustry

这道题不知道怎么分析出答案来。答案是D。

hughlv

我顶，怎么没人回呢？

agnesliu

作者对于Forces of Production, David Noble的态度是其缺乏实证，只是从意识形态角度说了一些看法
第6-10行Noble fails to substantiate this claim, although his argu-ment is impressive when he applies the Marxist concept of "de-skilling"—the use of technology to replace skilledlabor—to the automation of the machine-tool industry.