Pacey, A.
(1985).
The Culture of Technology.
Harry Braverman draws an instructive comparison with the first industrial revolution. That was not primarily a technical revolution; there was no change in the nature of many processes, which were merely reorganized on the basis of the division of labour. Craft production was dismembered and subdivided so that it was no longer 'the province of any individual worker'. In the modem 'revolution' the whole system is transformed. New materials, techniques and machines are used in an effort 'to dissolve the labour process as a process conducted by the worker and reconstitute it as a process conducted by management'. The individual workman or operative is analysed almost as a piece of machinery; he or she is seen as a 'sensory device', linked to a 'computing mechanism' and 'mechanical linkages'. This, says Braverman, is what modern industry 'makes of humanity'; labour is 'used as an interchangeable part' and progress is seen as a matter of indefinitely increasing the number of tasks that can be carried out by machine. The final triumph is achieved when all the human components have been exchanged for mechanical or electronic ones." (p. 110)
Peters, T. J.
(1994).
The pursuit of wow!: every person's guide to topsy-turvy times.
"Have you noticed?
Most good (neat, innovative, wild, woolly) 'stuff', large and small, happens in the boondocks, far, far, from corporate headquarters, corporate politics, and corporate toadying....
So how healthy is your fringe? How loony are its inhabitants?" (p. 301)
Peters, T. J.
(1987).
Thriving on Chaos.
"It's absurd! We don't want for evidence that the average worker is capable of moving mountains—if only we'll ask him or her to do so, and construct a supportive environment. So why don't we do it?...
I am frustrated to the point of rage—my files bulge with letters about the power of involvement. Sometimes it's planned, and I'll talk about that. Sometimes it's inadvertent. But the result is always the same: Truly involved people can do anything!" (p. 286)