2) The Detail Labourer and His Implements
The worker
who specialises in some particular type of work, obviously becomes
more adept and productive. In addition, the fact that several
generations of such workers work alongside each other means that the
tricks of the trade can be passed on one to another. The fact that
all the workers perform the same task means they operate as one
collective worker, so that the differentiation one to another
disappears into an average, and their collective output is higher
than the sum of their individual efforts.
This
tendency drives greater differentiation of tasks in order to obtain
these benefits of the division of labour. But, at the same time this
degree of specialisation, as a lifelong occupation, also drives
towards particular trades or skill becoming hereditary. That is a
throw back to previous types of society where this led to to the
establishment of castes and guilds.
This also
encourages the development of specific skills and industries to
particular geographic areas.
Having
described the quality of textile production from Dakka and
Coromandel, Marx writes,
“It is
only the special skill accumulated from generation to generation, and
transmitted from father to son, that gives to the Hindu, as it does
to the spider, this proficiency. And yet the work of such a Hindu
weaver is very complicated, compared with that of a manufacturing
labourer.” (p 322)
Marx
describes some of the ways specialisation raises productivity. For
example, the worker who performs several different tasks one after
another has to change tools and maybe even location. The time to do
that is lost to production.
“The
extra expenditure of power, demanded by every transition from rest to
motion, is made up for by prolonging the duration of the normal
velocity when once acquired. On the other hand, constant labour of
one uniform kind disturbs the intensity and flow of a man’s animal
spirits, which find recreation and delight in mere change of
activity.” (p 322)
This has
been recognised in some of the more modern production techniques,
developed originally in Japan, and which are utilised in the
development of work groups, flexible specialisation etc. which
utilise modern technology, to move production to such work groups
along tracks rather than traditional conveyor belts, or assembly
lines. The work groups are then given a degree of control over the
work process to arrange according to how they see fit, with each
worker in the group performing several tasks.
Whilst
traditional Fordist mass production raised productivity
spectacularly, these new neo-fordist, or toyotist techniques have in
turn often raised productivity by more than 100% over traditional
mass production.
In the same
way that workers become more specialised in the functions they
perform so too develops the need for more specialised tools to assist
in those tasks.
“In
Birmingham alone 500 varieties of hammers are produced, and not only
is each adapted to one particular process, but several varieties
often serve exclusively for the different operations in one and the
same process. The manufacturing period simplifies, improves, and
multiplies the implements of labour, by adapting them to the
exclusively special functions of each detail labourer. It thus
creates at the same time one of the material conditions for the
existence of machinery, which consists of a combination of simple
instruments.” (p 323)
However,
this should not be confused by the profusion of different products
arising from historical development, and which in turn stands in the
way of standardisation, and rationalisation which in turn facilitates
a considerable increase in productivity.
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