Comments on Gallie

Abstract

Duncan Gallie's paper returns to a subject which has been at the centre of David Lockwood's work: the extent to which there has occurred convergence in class position between lower white-collar workers and manual workers. After a briefreview of work on the impact of (rigid) automation on the work and class situation of workers during the 1950s and 60s, Gallie systematically addresses the claims of both the proletarianization and embourgeoisement theses in the context of a radically changed technological environment. Gallie employs the Goldthorpe class schema and follows Lockwood's theoretical approach, developed in the Btacksoated Worker study, of conceiving class position in terms of market and work situation. To measure the two, he develops indicators of market and work situation which follow Lockwood quite closely. Gallie uses data from a recent large-scale suivey on the association of aspects of work and market situation with new technology to test some of the central claims of both the proletarianization and the proletarianization thesis. The paper analyses the work situation of both types of workers by assessing the following aspects: trends in skill development; control over the work task; and relations with superiors. Assessment of market situation covers the components of income, payment systems, promotion chances and job security. Apart from the theoretical concerns shared with David Lockwood, Gallie's approach differs from that of Lockwood in a number of respects. In substantive terms, the inteivening thirty-eight years have demanded a stronger focus on technology as a decisive influence on both market and work situation, as well as a consideration of the different location of men and women with respect to many aspects of their work and market situation. The difference in research method is equally marked. Lockwood's qualitative study consulted a wide range of secondary sources and was able to study both the content and the context of clerical work in great depth, giving due weight to the considerable diversity between different groups of clerical workers. Whereas for Lockwood technology was only one variable among others, in Gallie's work it becomes the central variable, and environmental influences like degree of bureaucratization, size of work group and competitive position of employing organizations remain unconsidered. Even the notion of management policy, which is crucial to Gallie's definition of the effect of new technology and which has been found to be a