In a capitalist society, production aims to make profits, and means of production is privately controlled. Braveman proposed that capitalism can profit through extraction of surplus value of labour as labour power was directed towards production of commodities, motivating managers to control efficiency and duration of work. Braveman classified deskilling into organisational and technological deskilling. This essay is going to give an introduction, followed by various criticisms and defences before reaching a conclusion.

Organisational deskilling is common in factory settings to separate the conception and execution of work which imitate scientific management. Managerial and technical staff would deal with conceptual tasks such as planning and developing new protocols, while shopfloor workers would be left with the less challenging execution of the work. This method not only limits the discretion of shopfloor workers but also ensures monopoly over technical knowledge about the work.

Technological deskilling occurs in industries that make use of automated processes due to advancement in technology. In mid to late 19th century, intricate workflows simplified with machineries and resulted in deskilling of work, from blue collar to white collar level. Braveman claimed that new technologies do not lead to deskilling but allowed separation of task conception from execution, commonly seen when a small group of managers have control over most of their workers.

The typical cases of deskilling are BESNA and the wapping dispute. BESNA (Building Engineering Services National Agreement) was comprised by seven major employers in the mechanical and electrical sectors in the UK. Employers try to reduce the number of fully qualified, skilled workers and increase the number of less qualified workers by means of payment. BESNA attempted to use machines instead of skilled workers to maintain the quality of products. Under these situations, supervision and decision making are controlled by a few core members.

Wapping dispute took place in 1986, when 5500 newspaper workers went on strike after protracted negotiation with their employer, New International. New International has built a new printing plant which contained the most modern direct input typesetting equipment and allowed the whole process functions without traditional printing and distribution staff, the workers were instantly dismissed. The Wapping dispute reflected some negative impacts deskilling made in modern capitalist societies.

In modern capitalist societies, Friedman is against control over worker. He suggests managers to use alternative strategies such as “responsible autonomy” to leave some discretion with employees, and allowing them to take responsibility for their own decisions. This way workers would work more consciously while managers remain in control over overall process, avoiding deskilling.

At the same time, Edwards pointed that the deskilling theory sees the labour as a passive power. In order to protect their interests, workers would resist change towards deskilling through collective efforts such as trade unions, or through individual actions. The Wapping dispute provides support for the argument, where the print unions announced a strike to prevent the new plant activating. Edwards argues that a more complex form of control should be used to respond the resistance, such as technical and bureaucratic control.

In Marx’s theory profit is extracted through surplus value of labour and realized when the commodities are sold, so the deskilling theory is overstating the managers’ objectives. Like Purcell said, it is inaccurate to assume labour issues concern the management level. Kelly believed that method of Marx is important is there is no reason to privilege one over the other. Yet a separate research on management by Child suggested that policies in a company reflect the different values of decision makers, and hence internal politics in an organisation have a vital impact on the organisation deskilling. Noon gave an example on technological change in UK provincial newspapers industry, where, the objective of increased control over labour was not the primary focus for most managers. The technological changes brought about new opportunities as well as a reduced labour cost, posing a counter argument against negativity of technological deskilling.

Beechey highlighted the problem on gender-related aspects in the deskilling theory, where Beechey believes that in a skill-orientated modern capitalist society there will be “gendered jobs” that results in under-valuation of women’s labour power and skills. Beechey criticised that Braveman’s concept of skills failed to take gender dimensions into consideration, and ignored women’s distinct role as domestic labour due to his conceptual isolation of family from the labour process.

Burawoy claimed the deskilling theory understated the degree of acceptance by employees, and tactically hid the exploitative nature of labour process. He pointed out that workers may offer a different insight into the work nature and potentially sees it as an opportunity for meaningful activities. For example workers might see the labour process as a game where they are rewarded with satisfaction, such as from successfully operating machineries.

Pen made one of the most unfair criticisms on deskilling theory by claiming it overlooked the possibility of skill transferral, since workers could be compensated from upskilling in another aspect. Human capital theorists believe a shift in an organisation can be an enrichment since tasks become more complex. Felstead, Gallie and Green supported this with evidence that the requirement for employees to learn new things on their jobs applied to 76% of jobs in 1992 and 81% in 2001.

One of the defenders of the deskilling theory is Armstrong, who claims the theory is based on relatively unstable and uncertain factors. Spencer thinks the criticisms and modifications around the theory lose sight of the original intent, while Tinker feels that the impact of the theory has been under appreciated.

In conclusion, although criticisms from six aspects shows that the deskilling theory is imperfect, it provided opportunities for development of new skills or new opportunities, and allowed employers exploit their workers through controlling labour process in modern capitalist societies. The cases of BESNA and Wapping dispute indicated that the deskilling theory still has great impact on modern industrial societies.