We had better to examine the real practice and its results instead of beautiful words. (C.W. Mills, 1959, The Sociological Imagination) This paper examines the labour process in a Hungarian telecommunications workshop which, at first glance, seems to be organized according to post-assembly line principles. Yet closer examination shows that the 'flexible workers' coexist alongside a formally Taylorist system. The paradox is the result of the 'shortage economy' that prevails in Hungary. Equality among the flexible workers, moreover, does not exist: there are marked divisions between the core workers and the floating periphery, who bear the greater part of the burden.
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References
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Kornai, Janos
(1980) The Economics of Shortage. Amsterdam: North Holland
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Mak6, Csaba (1985) A tdrsadalmi vizonyok erotere: a munkafolyamat (The Hub of Social Relations: The Labour Process). Budapest: Kozgazdasagi es Jogi Konyvkiad6.
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Mills, C.W.
(1959) The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
