However, after the new economy came and went, Braverman's thesis seems to be fully vindicated. Far from unleashing creativity, computers contributed to deskilling of even professional occupations. A significant element of most white collar jobs is the manipulation of menus on the computer screen which requires the skill level of a bank teller.
College degrees are becoming mere credentials to beef up one's resume rather than enhance knowledge or cognitive skills.
Wojtek
On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
> Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>> Query: How much does the present economy (from the perspective of the
>> ruling elites) _need_ a more educated populace?
>>
>> That is _both_ a real question (I don't _know_ the answer) AND a
>> rhetorical question: I'm going to assume that the answer is that the
>> economy does _not_ need a more educated populace. It needs a more
>> disciplined and subservient populace.
>>
>
>
> Over the past ten years or so, I've been tracking the BLS projections on
> the 25 fastest growing occupations (by job numbers, not percentages). About
> 20 of the occupations on the list require no college education. The
> grandiose political rhetoric about "college for all" notwithstanding, our
> economy generates a huge number of low paid job positions that require
> little or no formal education beyond high school. (--And the
> political focus on access to college obscures the real problem: there are
> many workers doing socially crucial labor and getting paid shitty wages!)
>
> Miles
>
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