an esrc research programme the social science of electronic technologies 1 on the poverty of a...

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

1

ON THE POVERTY OF A PRIORISM: TECHNOLOGY, SURVEILLANCE IN THE WORKPLACE AND EMPLOYEE

REPONSESDavid Mason, Graham Button, Gloria Lankshear

and Sally Coates

University of Plymouth and XRCE

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

2

A priori assumptions in the study of workplace surveillance

• Technology decisively influences organisational function and development

• The employment relationship is intrinsically conflictual and oppositional

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

3

Characteristic features of the debate

• Empowerment versus disempowerment

• Compliance versus resistance

• Private versus organisational goals

• Speculation vs evidence

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

4

Towards empirical test and specification

Technology, work and surveillance: organisational

goals, privacy and resistance

An ESRC funded project

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

5

Project aims and design

• Surveillance-capable technology

• How it’s used

• How it’s viewed

• How it’s responded to

• Organisational goals or privacy?

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

6

Work and surveillance - what’s new?

• Monitoring as management necessity

• Surveillance and exploitation

• Surveillance, control and power

• Work intensity and the ‘bottom line’

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

7

Using surveillance capability

• Why do it?

• Why fear it?

• Why resist it?

• Private aims and organisational goals

• Is trust the key?

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

8

Emergent results

• A continuum of surveillance-capable technologies• Context determines nature and degree of utilisation• Utilisation is problem-focused rather then routine• Employees’ responses are context bound• Little evidence that privacy is an issue exercising

respondents

An ESRC Research Programme

the social science of electronic technologies

9

Conclusions

• There is a need for more empirical studies

• A priori assumptions inhibit the analysis of actual social relations

• The use of, and responses to, surveillance capable technology is socially contextual