Show description

J. D. Bernal draws attention to the change in the nature of the labour process caused by automation of the production process and states that automation is a new revolution in the labour process above and beyond mechanization: "The technical de­ velopment of the twentieth century already shows that we are faced here with the second, and perhaps the third industriaFrevolution.... In addition, although the original industrial revolution *° It is worth mentioning here that there is a close analogy between t h e operation o f such devices and the central nervous system, based o n the elec­ trical character o f the nervous system and the role o f feedback i n b o t h the nervous system and in computers.

Cit.. Vol. I, p . 366. , p . ) Social Process of Production and Reproduction 35 VII The plant turns out a given product or products. g. g. electrotechnical, chemical and textile industries), based on given products. There is a division of labour and co-operation among various plants; one plant uses the product of another plant as its raw material. Thus aside from the division of labour within the plant, there is also a broader division of labour on a society-wide scale which appears in the form of a division of labour and co-operation among plants.

Such operations are called simple or unskilled labour. e. of the labour-power which, on an average, apart from any special development, exists in the organism of every ordinary individual. ^"^ Labour associated with specific occupations is always skilled. Simple labour can always be done by any normal person capable of working and is not peculiar to any particular occupation; it can be done by people who do not possess any occupation. IX Management is an integral part of the occupational division of labour.