Princeton University Press
The New Division of Labor
-
and
About this book
As the current recession ends, many workers will not be returning to the jobs they once held--those jobs are gone. In The New Division of Labor, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane show how computers are changing the employment landscape and how the right kinds of education can ease the transition to the new job market.
The book tells stories of people at work--a high-end financial advisor, a customer service representative, a pair of successful chefs, a cardiologist, an automotive mechanic, the author Victor Hugo, floor traders in a London financial exchange. The authors merge these stories with insights from cognitive science, computer science, and economics to show how computers are enhancing productivity in many jobs even as they eliminate other jobs--both directly and by sending work offshore. At greatest risk are jobs that can be expressed in programmable rules--blue collar, clerical, and similar work that requires moderate skills and used to pay middle-class wages. The loss of these jobs leaves a growing division between those who can and cannot earn a good living in the computerized economy. Left unchecked, the division threatens the nation's democratic institutions.
The nation's challenge is to recognize this division and to prepare the population for the high-wage/high-skilled jobs that are rapidly growing in number--jobs involving extensive problem solving and interpersonal communication. Using detailed examples--a second grade classroom, an IBM managerial training program, Cisco Networking Academies--the authors describe how these skills can be taught and how our adjustment to the computerized workplace can begin in earnest.
Author / Editor information
Reviews
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
i -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
v -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Acknowledgments
vii -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 1. New Divisions of Labor
1 - Part I. Computers and the Economy
-
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 2. Why People Still Matter
13 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 3. How Computers Change Work and Pay
31 - Part II. The Skills Employers Value
-
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 4. Expert Thinking
57 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 5. Complex Communication
76 - Part III. How Skills are Taught
-
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 6. Enabling Skills
99 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 7. Computers and the Teaching of Skills
109 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 8. Standards-Based Education Reform in the Computer Age
131 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Chapter 9. The Next Ten Years
149 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Notes
159 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
169