Deskilling

Deskilling is the process by which skilled labor within an industry or economy is eliminated by the introduction of technologies operated by semiskilled or unskilled workers. This results in cost savings due to lower investment in human capital, and reduces barriers to entry, weakening the bargaining power of the human capital.^[1]

It is criticized^[2] for decreasing quality, demeaning labor (rendering work mechanical, rather than thoughtful and making workers automatons rather than artisans), and undermining community.

Examples

Examples of deprofessionalization can be found across many professions, and include:

• assembly line workers replacing artisans and craftsmen^[1]
• CNC machine tools replacing machinists
• super-automatic espresso machines replacing skilled baristas
• doctors; the M.D. is being replaced by "Health Care Providers"
• nurses
• pharmacists
• social workers
• librarians

Impact

Work is fragmented, and individuals lose the integrated skills and comprehensive knowledge of the crafts persons.^[3]

In an application to the arts, Benjamin Buchloh defines deskilling as "a concept of considerable importance in describing numerous artistic endeavors throughout the twentieth century with relative precision. All of these are linked in their persistent effort to eliminate artisanal competence and other forms of manual virtuosity from the horizon of both artist competence and aesthetic valuation."

Related

Related to the topic of deskilling is deprofessionalization and labor-saving devices. See also the Luddite fallacy.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Braverman, Harry (1974) Labor and monopoly capital. New York: Monthly Review
2. ^ Lerner, Sally (1994) "The future of work in North America: Good jobs, bad jobs, beyond jobs". Futures, 26(2):185-196. DOI 10.1016/0016-3287(94)90108-2. [1]
3. ^ "Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences". http://bitbucket.icaap.org/dict.pl?term=DESKILLING. Retrieved 2007-04-08. 

Further reading

• Stephen Wood (December 1981). Degradation of Work: Skill, Deskilling and the Braverman Debate. HarperCollins. ISBN 0091454018. 
• Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, and Benjamin H. D. Buchloh (March 2005). Art Since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500238189. 
• Beatrice Edwards. "Deskilling AND Downsizing: Some Thoughts About The Future Of Technical Education". http://iacd.oas.org/La%20Educa%20123-125/edw.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-08. 
• Sociology Department, Langara College
• Sociology Department, McMaster University
• Technology, Capitalism and Anarchism

See also

• Automation
• Unionization
• Craft guild
• Division of Labor

This sociology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Demography Labor Skills Education economics Sociology stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Błażej Telichowski Newspapers of Guayaquil Look at other dictionaries: deskilling — de‧skil‧ling [ˌdiːˈskɪlɪŋ] also de skilling noun [uncountable] HUMAN RESOURCES 1. when employees do not learn the skills required to be able to work with modern technology: • The application of information technology is often thought to lead to… …   Financial and business terms deskilling — The process of removing the requirement for individual skills as part of an operating system. Techniques to improve the efficiency of systems tend to simplify and standardize procedures, so that they can be repeated at minimum cost. Computers and …   Big dictionary of business and management deskilling — v. downgrade a job from a skilled to a semiskilled or unskilled position; remove skill …   English contemporary dictionary deskilling — deskillˈing noun • • • Main Entry: ↑deskill …   Useful english dictionary ДЕКВАЛИФИКАЦИЯ — (deskilling) процесс деградации труда, в котором труд становится все более фрагментированным и утрачивает свою сложность, самостоятельное содержание и основу знаний. Наиболее значительная разработка данного понятия (тезис о деградации труда)… …   Большой толковый социологический словарь Skill (labor) — Skill is a measure of a worker s expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers. [Harvard reference |last=Cowan… …   Wikipedia Industrial sociology — (also known as sociology of industrial relations or sociology of work ) is both a study of the interaction of people within industry (e.g. boss subordinate, inter departmental, and management union relations) and, on a macrosociological scale,… …   Wikipedia deskill — de‧skill [ˌdiːˈskɪl] verb [transitive] HUMAN RESOURCES to remove or reduce the level of skill needed to do a job, usually by getting a machine to do some or all of the work: • Advances in machine technology had deskilled numerous manual jobs.… …   Financial and business terms deskilled — deskill de‧skill [ˌdiːˈskɪl] verb [transitive] HUMAN RESOURCES to remove or reduce the level of skill needed to do a job, usually by getting a machine to do some or all of the work: • Advances in machine technology had deskilled numerous manual… …   Financial and business terms Conceptual art — Not to be confused with concept art. Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs (1965) Conceptual art is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works,… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”