Field report: technological change and changing work-lives

It is a well-known and often debated conception that the rapid development of technology causes computers and machines to replace human labour through an automation of the workflow. In this article, I will elaborate on two selected cases from a recent fieldwork, to discuss whether this is a fitting diagnosis. As a result of this discussion, the article will give an insight into how the living conditions of different life-modes are being transformed by external forces and how the different life-modes adjust to the changes in technology.

By Tor Stene Jul-Rasmussen

Salling, North Western Denmark 2014

A furniture factory has experienced a continuous modernization of the production over the last 30 to 40 years. This modernization process changes the everyday practices of the employees in various aspects. Accordingly, a rising amount of the work that previously involved manual processing of wood has surpassed to a so-called CNC-machine. The CNC-machine is operated through a computer, where the woodworker types in the desired dimensions, whereupon the shape is “printed”. This particular workflow requires that the woodworker is competent to handle the software. Therefore, it is important for the worker to participate in training and go through further education, in order to meet the special demands of the job. Meanwhile, the same worker must still be able to make an assessment of the “print”. As before, the individual worker is still responsible for assessing the quality of the machined wood. The processing of the wood has surpassed to the machine, but the drawing of the design and the desired dimensions, as well as the assessment of the process, are still handled by the worker. Therefore, specialization of the woodworker lies in his ability to handle the software of the computer. The workers in the factory consider the CNC-machine to be an advantage, as it makes it possible to maintain parts of the production within the factory, or even bring back parts of the production, which has been moved to other countries with lower wages and costs of production. The main argument for this is that the machine will be able to maintain a production that corresponds with the incoming orders without the costs of shipping elements to and from the foreign supplier. 

Meanwhile, the CNC-machine will free up an amount of time, that the worker would have spent doing manual labour. The workers express that they have assumed a more administrative role within the factory. This implies more communication across the different departments, a role which was previously handled by a foreman in each department. However, the foreman position has been removed from the production. This means, that the CNC-machine takes over a number of tasks within the production, for which the workers as well as foremen were previously responsible. Therefore, the workers have had to specialize, in order to be able to carry out new tasks. Thus, the woodworker has adapted to some new working conditions that the technology has caused.

Another example will serve to illustrate, how the relationship between technology and know-how have changed and impacted productions. In 2010, an entrepreneur opens a microbrewery on some premises that used to be a small farm. This would not have been possible in the past, since a single brewer would not have been able to carry out the workload, which a reasonable and profitable production would have demanded. However, modern technology has changed these conditions, since a single brewer is now capable of maintaining an appropriate and profitable production. Bigger and more efficient machines, such as brew kettles, grain rolls and bottling plants are now available to the individual brewer. This means that the microbrewery is a possible business model on a market, which otherwise seems to be best suited for large-scale productions. Furthermore, the machines save time that the brewer will be able to transfer to sales and the deliveries. Thus, the machines make it possible for the brewer to carry out multiple functions at the microbrewery. The microbrewer is special, since he alone is responsible for all the different parts of the production. The development of equipment and machinery means that the brewer is neither dependent on outside capital, means of production nor labour. The result of such a microproduction is also a different product, than the ones from large-scale productions. The relatively small production makes the microbrewery far more flexible on the market, where the taste of the beer and the ingredients can be made to suit the changing seasons. The flexibility, as well as the local message, forms the micobrewery´s main arguments against the far more competitive prices of the large-scale productions.

In both examples, a significant amount of knowledge and know-how has been passed from the hands of the worker into the computer. In the furniture factory, the eligibility of the worker relies on his ability to handle the specific software, assess the products as well as his new administrative responsibility. On the microbrewery, many processes have passed to the machines. The microbrewer can single-handedly found and maintain a microbrewery with a sustainable production, also including the sales and shipping.

Technological advancements, in the form of machines and computer software, affect the different living conditions of the different life-modes in different ways. The woodworker has to educate himself in order to retain his eligibility within the production. Meanwhile, the microbrewer is able to realize his dream of single-handedly running a brewery. The two examples express two sides and aspects of the same history, where some types of work are rendered obsolete, while other types are enabled. Technological change exert as structural changes in the living conditions of the different life-modes. This means, that the individual practices must also change in order to ensure the survival of the life-mode. Therefore, the woodworker and the microbrewer give us an insight into how different life-modes reacts to the structural changes that the advancements of technology have led to. This development can be perceived as a process of neoculturation, where structural change affects the praxis of the life-modes, as the living conditions are transformed. The woodworker is forced to specialize in the modern means of production. Meanwhile, the microbrewer is able to run his company single-handedly.

In this article, technological advancements have served as a way to perceive neoculturation. This enables us to understand the decline and emergence of business structures, as well as living conditions. This becomes clear when one considers that both the microbrewer and the woodworker are taking on new responsibilities. Meanwhile, neoculturation can be considered from several perspectives, where legal decisions, economic tendencies and ideological structures are all affecting each other. Thus, technological advancement is only one way to consider neoculturation, which becomes quite clear when one considers these two example. With the perspective of neoculturation it becomes clear that the technological advancements not only imply that the workers are replaced by machines. The two examples prompt one to consider, that workers adjust to the ongoing transformation of living conditions.