Abstract
The study of technological change is now well established. However, much of the sociological work in this area has been concerned with the identification of international/national general trends or tendencies towards either deskilling or enskilling. As yet relatively little attention has been devoted to the detailed ethnography of the effects of technological change as experienced by those directly involved. Where such work has been undertaken it tends to point towards a more complex reality than is commonly acknowledged by the more quantitative or general theories. Using data from a qualitative study of employment relations in the general printing industry this paper seeks to set detailed micro-level analysis within this wider context of technological change, thereby drawing attention to those areas of diversity and complexity which may be overlooked by more general theories.
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