White-Collar Proletarians? The Structure of Clerical Work and Levels of Class Consciousness

Abstract

Marxist theory has long argued that the development of capitalism tends to proletarianize office employees. This article addresses the validity of this claim. Using survey data drawn from a subsample of clerical workers employed in the communications industry, the article tests a series of hypotheses regarding the relation between computerization, clerical work, and levels of class consciousness. In line with predictions of deskilling, computerization seems to heighten managerial control over workers' jobs, and to lower the conceptual content of workers' tasks as well. Alienation from work also tends to increase apace with the computerization of clerical work. Variation in the structure of workers' jobs, however, displays little or no bearing upon office workers' levels of class consciousness. In short, although the restructuring of clerical work does affect workers' attitudes toward their jobs, it does little to foster an increasingly proletarian attitude toward management. The study suggests that the structure of workers' tasks may be less consequential for the development of class consciousness than has often been presumed.