Skill and Occupational Change

In this major work, leading economists, sociologists and psychologists present their original research into changes in the job structure of Britain in the 1980s. Combining large-scale sample surveys, personal life-histories and case studies of towns, employers and worker groups, their findings give sometimes surprising answers to questions debated by social and economic observers in all advanced countries. Does technology destroy skills or rebuild them? How does skill affect the attitudes of employees and their managers towards their jobs? Are women gaining greater skill equality with men, or are they still stuck on the lower rungs of the skill and occupational ladders? The book also takes up neglected issues and challenges and discredits the widely held view that new technology has de-skilled the workforce. The authors exemplify many new techniques for researching skills at work: as an economic resource; as a motor of occupational change; and as a basis for personal careers and identity. It provides an authoritative set of conclusions on skill trends and their implications as it draws an authoritative new map of skill-change in British society.