First published in 1989, this book examines the work, careers and politics of French engineers and technical workers employed in traditional and high-technology settings. In the process, it critically evaluates several theories of social change and advocates a unique approach to class theory and the comparative analysis of nations. Neither owners of productive property nor wage workers performing routinised labour. Engineers occupy an ambiguous social position that has elicited a good deal of controversy about trends in their situation and ideology. Where theories of professionalism anticipate occupationally based challenges to the legitimacy of bureaucratic authority, Marxian and neo-Marxian analyses foresee class-based opposition to capitalism. Yet all these theories share a preoccupation with the effects of technology and the division of labour on social values and group identities. This book maintains that such a preoccupation obscures the significance of career situations and the distinctively national institutions that shape them. The book presents a fresh view of the interplay of occupation, class and nation.

Skilled technical occupationsâ€"defined as occupations that require a high level of knowledge in a technical domain but do not require a bachelor's degree for entryâ€"are a key component of the U.S. economy. In response to globalization and advances in science and technology, American firms are demanding workers with greater proficiency in literacy and numeracy, as well as strong interpersonal, technical, and problem-solving skills. However, employer surveys and industry and government reports have raised concerns that the nation may not have an adequate supply of skilled technical workers to achieve its competitiveness and economic growth objectives. In response to the broader need for policy information and advice, Building America's Skilled Technical Workforce examines the coverage, effectiveness, flexibility, and coordination of the policies and various programs that prepare Americans for skilled technical jobs. This report provides action-oriented recommendations for improving the American system of technical education, training, and certification.

This book is the first major in-depth study of the impact of contemporary management practices on a rapidly expanding set of white-collar occupations, namely technical workers. It investigates whether HRM schemes such as employee appraisals and performance related pay have transformed technical work to such an extent that it can no longer be described as a 'service contract'. The book contains detailed examination of the nature of managerial control over employees who, by virtue of their committment, present their employers with problems that are often ignored by prescriptive models of HRM. The empirical evidence features case studies of matched pairs of hi-tech firms in the Irish Republic. The author examines recent debates about the nature of employment and the role of the multinational corporations within the so-called 'Celtic Tiger' Irish economy.

Published in 1998. This text is concerned with research issues within the context of the emerging information age. The book draws together research which is devoted to key questions examining the relationship between the various and widely discussed developments of technological systems and their societal impacts. Increasing interest and research into the information society and their euphorical assumptions is creating a wide spectrum of societal criticism. Computer supported work for instance has led to the development of innovative organizational processes based on technological developments and communications paradigms. In particular the focus is centred on the perspectives of such Networking Entities and their many varied implications. The book links sociology with technology and aims to lead it to wider discussions of the above issues.

What explains the international mobility of workers from developing to advanced societies? Why do workers move from one region to another? Theoretically, the supply of workers in a given region and the demand for them in another account for the international mobility of laborers. Job seekers from less developed regions migrate to more advanced countries where technological and productive transformations have produced a shortage of laborers. Using the Dominican labor force in New York as a case study, Ramona Hernández challenges this presumption of a straightforward relationship between supply and demand in the job markets of the receiving society. She contends that the traditional correlation between migration and economic progress does not always hold true. Once transplanted in New York City, Hernández shows, Dominicans have faced economic hardship as the result of high levels of unemployment and underemployment and the reality of a changing labor market that increasingly requires workers with skills and training they do not have. Rather than responding to a demand in the labor market, emigration from the Dominican Republic was the result of a de facto government policy encouraging poor and jobless people to leave—a policy in which the United States was an accomplice because the policy suited its economic and political interests in the region.

Engineers, often perceived as central agents of industrial capitalism, are thought to be the same in all capitalist societies, occupying roughly the same social status and performing similar functions in the capitalist enterprise. What the essays in this volume reveal, however, is that engineers are trained and organized quite distinctly in different national contexts. The book includes case studies of engineers in six major industrial economies: Japan, France, Germany, Sweden, Britain and the United States. Through a comparison of these six cases, the authors develop an approach to national differences which both retains the place of historical diversity in the experience of capitalism and accommodates the forces of convergence from increasing globalisation and economic integration. Contributions from: Boel Berner, Stephen Crawford, Kees Gispen, Kevin McCormick and Peter Whalley.