Computer programming was the accidental and largely unloved offspring of electrical engineering. This origin played a critical role in the development of programming as an occupation. The routinization of computer programming, while patterned after its parent field, is also facilitated by recent developments such as "high-level" languages, canned programs, and structured programming. The subsequent deskilling of programmers as a group calls into question arguments that increasingly sophisticated technology in the workplace creates work which is more complex and challenging than the work it displaces.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BLAUNER, R.
(1964) Alienation and Freedom: The Factory Worker and His Industry. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
2.
BRAVERMAN, H.
(1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. New York: Monthly Review Press.
3.
FISCHER, B.
and M. LESSER (1973) "Engineers."Science for the People5 (May): 16-21.
4.
GILCHRIST, B.
and B. WEBER (1972a) "Sources of trained computer personnel—a quantitative survey."Proceedings of the 1972 Spring Joint Computer Conference. Montvale, NJ: AFIPS Press.
5.
GILCHRIST, B.
and B. WEBER (1972b) "Employment of trained computer personnel—a quantitative survey."Proceedings of the 1972 Spring Joint Computer Conference. Montvale, NJ: AFIPS Press.
6.
GOLDNER, F.
and R. R. RITTI (1967) "Professionalization as career immobility."Amer. J. of Sociology72 (March): 489-502.
7.
GOLDSTINE, H.
(1972) The Computer: From Pascal to Von Neumann. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
8.
HAMBLEN, J. T.
(1972) "Production and utilization of computer manpower in the U.S."Proceedings of the 1972 Spring Joint Computer Conference. Montvale, NJ: AFIPS Press.
9.
KORNHAUSER, W.
(1963) Scientists in Industry: Conflict and Accommodation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press.
10.
KRAFT, P.
(1977) Programmers and Managers: The Routinization of Computer Programming in the United States. New York: Springer-Verlag.
11.
KROHN, R.
(1971) The Social Shaping of Science: Institutions, Ideology, and Careers in Science. Westport, CN: Greenwood.
12.
LAYTON, E. T.
(1973) "Engineers in revolt," in E. T. Layton (ed.) Technology and Social Change in America. New York: Harper & Row.
13.
MEIER, R. L.
(1951) "The origins of the scientific species."B. of the Atomic Scientists. 7, 6 (June): 169-171.
14.
National Science Foundation
(1977) "Women and minorities in Science and Engineering." NSF 77-304.
15.
NOBLE, D.
(1977) America by Design: Science, Technology and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism. New York: Knopf.
16.
PERRUCCI, C.
(1969) "Engineering and the class structure," pp. 279-311 in R. Perrucci and D. Gerstl (eds.) The Engineers and the Social System. New York: John Wiley.
17.
ROTHSTEIN, W. G.
(1969) "Engineers and the functionalist model of professions," pp. 73-79 in Perrucci and Gerstl (eds.) The Engineers and the Social System. New York: John Wiley.
18.
U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census
(1970) Census of the Population, 1970. Detailed Characteristics.
