Organised Labour, Sectionalism and Changing Technology in the British Newspaper Industry

Mason, Robert (1989) Organised Labour, Sectionalism and Changing Technology in the British Newspaper Industry. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Much has been written during the 1980s about the changes taking place within the British newspaper industry, emanating out of the development of computerisation and the concomitant demise of hot-metal production methods. However, most of the work undertaken in this field has tended to be either accounts of specific instances of conflict over the introduction of new technology, or have been focussed upon structural changes taking place within the industry and the trade unions. But given the radical nature of change occurring at the point of production, little work has been done on the perspective of the shop-floor worker and the longer term implications for interunion relationships at the plant level. The following thesis therefore, attempts two main tasks. Firstly, in an empirical context, to bridge the 'gap' in the literature, by focussing on an analysis of the ways in which changing technology has interacted with and influenced the interrelationship between three highly differentiated categories of newspaper industry unionised employees -journalist, clerical and craft workers. And secondly, in a theoretical sense, to develop a conceptualisation which differentiates between structural change in the world of work, and perceptual change within the 'consciousness' of the workers, by focussing on the concept of 'sectionalism'.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Labor relations
• Date of Award: 1989
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1989-76915
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jan 2020 09:28
• Last Modified: 14 Jan 2020 09:28
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/76915