In Forces of Production, David Noble examines the transformation1 of the machine-tool industry as the industry moved from reliance on skilled artisans to automation. Noble writes from a Marxist perspective, and his central argument is that management, in its decisions to automate2, conspired3 against labor4: the power that the skilled machin- ists wielded5 in the industry was intolerable to management.
Noble fails to substantiate6 this claim, although his argu- ment is impressive when he applies the Marxist concept of de-skilling-the use of technology to replace skilled labor-to the automation of the machine-tool industry. In automating7, the industry moved to computer-based, digi- talized numerical-control technology, rather than to artisan-generated record-playback technology.
Although both systems reduced reliance on skilled labor, Noble clearly prefers R/P, with its inherent acknowledg- ment of workers' skills: unlike N/C, its programs were produced not by engineers at their computers, but by skilled machinists, who recorded their own movements to teach machines to duplicate those movements. However, Noble's only evidence of conspiracy8 is that, although the two approaches were roughly equal in technical merit, management chose N/C. From this he concludes that auto- mation is undertaken not because efficiency demands it or scientific advances allow it, but because it is a tool in the ceaseless war of capitalists against labor.
1. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
reexamining a political position and defending its validity
examining a management decision and defending its necessity
analyzing9 a scholarly study and pointing out a central weakness
explaining a trend in automation and warning about its dangers
chronicling the history of an industry and criticizing its development
2. According to information in the passage, the term de- skilling refers to the
loss of skills to industry when skilled workers are replaced by unskilled laborers10
substitution of mechanized processes for labor formerly11 performed by skilled workers
labor theory that automation is technologically12 comparable to skilled labor
process by which skilled machinists teach machines to perform certain tasks
exclusion13 of skilled workers from participation14 in the development of automated15 technology
3. Which of the following best characterizes the function of the second paragraph of the passage?
It develops a TOPic introduced in the first paragraph.
It provides evidence to refute a claim presented in the first paragraph.
It gives examples of a phenomenon mentioned in the first paragraph.
It presents a generalization16 about examples given in the first paragraph.
It suggests two possible solutions to a problem presented in the first paragraph
4. The passage suggests which of the following about N automation in the machine-tool industry?
It displaced fewer skilled workers than R/P automation did.
It could have been implemented17 either by experienced machinists or by computer engineers.
It was designed without the active involvement skilled machinists.
It was more difficult to design than R/P automation was.
It was technically18 superior to R/P automation.
5. Which of the following phrases most clearly reveals the attitude of the author of the passage toward Noble's central argument?
conspired against
intolerable to management
impressive when he applies the Marxist concept
clearly prefers
only evidence of conspiracy
6. The author of the passage commends Noble's book for which of the following?
Concentrating on skilled as opposed to unskilled workers in its discussion of the machine-tool industry
Offering a generalization about the motives19 behind the machine-tool industry's decision to automate
Making an essential distinction between two kinds of technology employed in the machine-tool industry
Calling into question the notion that managers conspired against labor in the automation of the machine-tool industry
Applying the concept of de-skilling to the machine- tool industry
7. Which of the following best characterizes Forces of Production as it is described in the passage?
A comparison of two interpretations of how a particular industry evolved
An examination of the origin of a particular concept in industrial economics
A study that points out the weakness of a particular interpretation of an industrial phenomenon
A history of a particular industry from an ideological point of view
An attempt to relate an industrial phenomenon in one industry to a similar phenomenon in another industry
