Changing global working environments

The aim of the project is to analyze the relationship between digital technology, gender and emotions in three different working environments

Global workplaces in transition: The history of technology, gender and emotions since the 1960s

Cooperation partner in Graz: Univ.-Prof. Dr.  Christiane Berth, Institute of History
Junior Fellow: Nina Jahrbacher

Incoming Senior Fellow: Prof.in Dr.in Martina Heßler, TU Darmstadt, Monika Arnez, Placký Universität in Olomouc, Mike Prentice PhD, Sheffield University UK
Incoming Junior Fellows: Helen Glew, Heidi Schweickert

Period: 2022-2025
Symposium: July2024

Content:

The early 21st century saw the beginning of a lively ‒ often quite emotional debate ‒ about the future of work. For decades, digital technology has shaped workplaces around the globe and has repeatedly triggered fears of job losses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of digital technology reached new heights and with it the tendency to make work more flexible and remove boundaries.

This research project examines the change in global working environments from a historical perspective. It analyses how the relationship between digital technology, gender relations and emotions has changed in various fields of work, including office work, industrial manufacturing and agricultural production. Such a comparative view of developments in Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America enables statements to be made about different timelines, global inequality in access to technology and the diverse formation of gender roles.

The fellows work on three central questions:

  1. What emotional reactions did the introduction of digital technology evoke? What cultural differences existed?
  2. How did emotional debates affect technology use in the workplace?
  3. How did the introduction of digital technology affect gender relations in the workplace?



Project activities so far:

  • Lecture by Christiane Berth, Work, Technology and Power: A Global History of the Modern Office, Lecture Series Global History, Munich Centre for Global History, May 2, 2022.
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth, Digital Technology at the Office: Labour, Power and Gender Relations since the 1970s, Seminar, TU Darmstadt, May 24, 2022.
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth, Work, Technology and Power: A Global History of the Modern Office, Colloquium, Institute of History, University of Bern, June 1, 2022.
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth Die Geschichte des modernen Büros in Lateinamerika, International Workshop Amerika in Europa, 20.10.2022, University of Graz
  • Lecture by Heidi Schweickert, HFDT Brown-Bag Forum on 13.01.2023 on the topic Zwischen Temporausch und Kontrollverlust
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth Arbeit, Technik, Zeitdiagnosen. Erinnerung und Partizipation im Oral History Archiv der Firma Merck, Conference Arbeit – Migration – Partizipation, University of Graz, May 25, 2023.
  • Lecture by Martina Heßler, HFDT Brown-Bag Forum on 05.06.2023 on the topic Normale Fehler' und digitale Arbeit. Überlegungen zu einer Technikgeschichte von Fehlern
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth Telefonieren in Lateinamerika. Technikvisionen, Emotionen und soziale Beziehungen im 20. Jahrhundert, colloquium Forschungsprobleme der Global- und Frühneuzeitgeschichte, Institute of History, University of Duisburg Essen, 17.11.2023.
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth The Computerized Office: Planning, Office Work and Visions for Technology, 1980-2000. Workshop Perspectives on Uses and Users in the History of Office Buildings, Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, University of Luxembourg; Research Group Modernity and Society, 1800-2000, KU Leuven, 22.11.2023.
  • Lecture by Christiane Berth, Die Geschichte des modernen Büros in Lateinamerika, colloquium History of Technology, Institute for Technologie in Karlsruhe, 28.11.2023.
  • Lecture by Helen Glew, 24.1.2024 Unchartered waters: the end of the typing pool, the desktop computer revolution and women’s office work in 1980s and 1990s Britain, Seminar, Contemporary British History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, https://www.history.ac.uk/events/unchartered-waters-end-typing-pool-desktop-computer-revolution-and-womens-office-work-0

  • Lecture by Nina Jahrbacher Auf dem Gleis der Innovation. Die ÖBB-Verwaltung im Zeitalter der EDV (1969-1991), 29.2.2024, University of GrazPanel at the Österreichischen Zeitgeschichtetag 2024: https://zeitgeschichtetag-2024.uni-graz.at/de/, Thu, 11.4.2024

     
    • Auf dem Gleis der Innovation: Die ÖBB-Verwaltung im Zeitalter der EDV (1969-1991) by Nina Jahrbacher
    • Zeiten der Verunsicherung: Computerisierung in einem multinationalen Unternehmen, 1980-2000 by Christiane Berth
    • Informations-Chernobyl? Neue Unsicherheit, fehlerhafte Software und die Etablierung einer neuen Fehlerkultur im letzten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts by Martina Heßler

      Panel 5:
      Computerisation – an (in)visible turning point? Uncertainties, insecurities, and emotions since the 1970s.
      Chair: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heike Karge
      This panel aims to contribute to the question of the impact of computerisation. It approaches the issue via three case studies: the impact of computerisation on a specific workplace (the ÖBB in Austria); the reactions to the end of the typing pool in a range of workplaces (in Britain and North America); and the understanding and handling of (computer) errors in the 1970s and 1980s. Using technological, gender and emotional perspectives, it will show which uncertainties and insecurities shaped the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and which (in)visible turning points can be detected.
      At the same time, the panel wants to pick up current debates, which have recurred since the 19th century and before. Although debates about machine-human interaction and the fear of being made obsolete because of workplace technology started a long time ago, the papers seek to offer a new perspective in light of the new developments in AI. Therefore, the structure of the panel will pick up those debates, starting with workplace case studies in the 1970/80s and then the 1980/90s. It closes with an overview about the effects of computerisation, which occurred during these decades, through the case study of machine errors and their induced emotions.
      Consequently, the panel will address the multiplicity of turning points and explain the importance of underlining continuities, especially in the case of uncertainties and insecurities in relation to computer technologies in the second half of the 20th century.
       

 

Symposium, 11-13. June 2024
Internal part to discuss the previously submitted papers and the publication June 11 and 13
Public part with presentations on June 12
Detailed program will follow

 

Project applications:

  • Christiane Berth The Computerized Office: Gender and Technology, 1980-2000. Antrag auf FWF-Einzelprojekt, eingereicht im April 2023
  • Senior Fellow Monika Arnez Elevating excellence in drones for environmental monitoring: sensory synergies, gender dynamics and enhanced fieldwork methods (SENSDRONE), Principal investigator Prof. Monika Arnez, Palacký University Olomouc, Partner Universities: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Graz. Einreichung als Twinning project bei Horizon Europe im September 2023
     

Publications:

  • Christiane Berth: Interrupted Conversations: Gender and Telephone Use in Mexico, 1930s–70s. In: Technology and Culture 64, no. 1 (2023): 124–148. Doi: doi:10.1353/tech.2023.0004.
  • Heidi Schweickert: Echtzeit im Verhältnis von Mensch und Maschine. Die Relevanz von Echtzeit für den Wandel von Arbeit und in der Digitalisierung. In: Technikgeschichte 90 (2023), H. 3, S. 225-248.