The deskilling and upskilling debate

There are two opposite perspectives on the future of capitalist societies: a positive one and a negative one. Both perspectives of the future are associated with a corresponding - but opposing - positive or negative picture of the past concerning skills. Whereas the proponents of a deskilled and degraded future of work start with the image of skilled handicraft work as typical for the early stages of capitalism, the advocates of the upskilling thesis see uneducated and unskilled rural workers as the starting point of skill development under the capitalist mode of production. Both perspectives are legitimate and can refer to supportive evidence. No matter what position one holds, it cannot be denied, however, that literacy and the general educational level of the population of industrialized countries have risen and that growing proportions of the population (including women) have become integrated into employment. This means that, by and large, the educational and skill levels that can be made use of within the labour process have risen; this does not mean, however, that the skills offered are adequately exploited.

Published introduction.

The book from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 100.51. Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 100.52 to TD/TNC 100.244. Show less