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Labouring under an illusion? The labour process of software development in the Australian information industry
Author(s) -
Barrett Rowena
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
new technology, work and employment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.889
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1468-005X
pISSN - 0268-1072
DOI - 10.1111/1468-005x.00074
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , process (computing) , software , control (management) , order (exchange) , work (physics) , business , illusion , software development , process management , engineering , labour economics , marketing , management , computer science , economics , sociology , mechanical engineering , finance , psychology , social science , neuroscience , programming language , operating system
In this paper a case study of a small firm engaged in producing packaged software in the Australian ’information industry’ is conducted in order to shed light on the nature of control over the labour process of software development. It is shown that the interplay of human agency and structural forces means employees are largely unaware of the exercise of control over their work.