Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 5 Questions/Comments"
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(New page: In the watchmaking article (151-152), I noticed a lot of similarities between the descriptions of the usage of women to work on watches in comparison to using women in the Lowell mills...) |
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In the watchmaking article (151-152), I noticed a lot of similarities between the descriptions of the usage of women to work on watches in comparison to using women in the Lowell mills. The women tend to be more dexterous and can work on smaller, more detailed objects and therefore were more often and willingly hired to work in these situations. It also shows a little bit of the transfer from the apprenticeship/master to the factory—it was frustrating to lose women to marriage in watch making because learning those skills took a long time but as soon as they learned them, the women went off to be married, but in the Lowell system, sending women off to be married was not a problem because they were doing unskilled labor. | In the watchmaking article (151-152), I noticed a lot of similarities between the descriptions of the usage of women to work on watches in comparison to using women in the Lowell mills. The women tend to be more dexterous and can work on smaller, more detailed objects and therefore were more often and willingly hired to work in these situations. It also shows a little bit of the transfer from the apprenticeship/master to the factory—it was frustrating to lose women to marriage in watch making because learning those skills took a long time but as soon as they learned them, the women went off to be married, but in the Lowell system, sending women off to be married was not a problem because they were doing unskilled labor. | ||
Frederick Taylor’s article on Scientific Management reminded me of the article we read for last week that focused on men as being part of the machine. It seems to be a common trend in this era that those that run the factory think of men as merely part of the machine, but there is a pushback from workers with unions, strikes, resistance, etc. Scientific Management controls every movement of the worker, as if it was controlling a machine that can be fixed and adjusted. --Sara Krechel | Frederick Taylor’s article on Scientific Management reminded me of the article we read for last week that focused on men as being part of the machine. It seems to be a common trend in this era that those that run the factory think of men as merely part of the machine, but there is a pushback from workers with unions, strikes, resistance, etc. Scientific Management controls every movement of the worker, as if it was controlling a machine that can be fixed and adjusted. --Sara Krechel | ||
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| + | Reading the short letters at the end of the reading, we are seeing different ways where people are trying to be more productive by shortening the length of time it takes to do something. In the Laundress writing, you have them shortening the distance the iron was carried and how far the operator was walking per uniform and they were becoming more effective and productive. Whereas with the canoe makers, they create these dry bins to reduce the drying time from ten days down to four. After shipping out the canoes to Macys, 275 of the 500 came back due to warping and cracking. While everyone wants to find new ways to be more productive, however the logistics involved didn't quite add up for the canoes. Shortening the distance someone has to walk to do laundry was clearly a time saver, whereas the canoe makers found out the hard way that canoes need ten days for a reason. - Matthew Beere | ||
