Key Points:

• Technology is not just tools and machines but recipes, techniques and know-how.
• While many tools and machines make our lives easier, technology has for long time been linked to the requirements of production and warfare.
• The application of new technological methods in production has, under capitalism, led to some deskilling and degradation of work.
• Taylorist principles and Fordist mass production subordinated the worker tot the mechanical requirements of production.
• This has resulted in alienation and feelings of powerlessness and meaninglessness.
• Technology, and especially information technology, can create strong dependency; people become unable to function without technological supports.
• Computerization may offer some relief from monotony in the workplace.
• Computerization often reduces people's controle over their work and severely restricts awareness and understanding of what they are doing.