labour in conflict: between capital interests and the maintenance of identity: on the reformulation of control in the context of industrial sociology

abstract: the analysis of the relations between technology, organization of the labour process and authority have continually been of central interest to industrial sociology in the federal republic of germany. research approaches, however, have been strongly characterized by technological and, more recently, by economic determinism. with the introduction of american control-approaches political aspects of the organization of the labour process were first brought to the fore. yet discussion of the problem of control was limited to the firm's perspective and its solutions to the regulation of labour efficiency. in particular the assumption was made that computer technologies represent an additional source of power for capital. these approaches are seen to be lacking in that they fail to recognize the employees' own claims to control over working conditions. a theoretical foundation for such claims to control can be developed using the concept of identity. it is attempted here to show that restructuring of the labour process on the basis of microelectronic computer technologies often makes it difficult for employees to maintain their identity and that, as a result, control strategies from the side of capital can be more easily realized.;