Common to a number of otherwise divergent writings is the attempt to offer a theory of how the changing organization of industrial production impinges upon average skill levels in the work force. From this basis, generalizations are made about the future development of the class structure of advanced capitalism. This article argues that such a simple relation between skill and class structure is unlikely. Among the many factors which intervene between the two, the most important and complex are the labour market institutions and processes determining the exchange value of labour. An appropriate framework of concepts is deployed to allow for this; and its use is illustrated via the critical case of the `deskilling' of craft labour in twentieth-century Britain. It is argued that important implications exist for the concepts and theories by which the problems of skill and class have hitherto been approached.
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