Pathways to Social Mobility Through Information Technology Skills: An Argument for a Segmented Labor Market Approach.

Within the debate about the impact of information technologies on the nature of jobs and consequently on the structure of the job market, there is growing evidence for differential impact, in the context of a segmented labor market. This paper probes information technology's impact on lower segments of the labor market, viewing technology as a socially-situated entity, rather than an immutable entity that is ahistoric or asocial. Attention the lower-segments is especially warranted because that is where most of the negative processes are documented such as deskilling, increased supervisory control, disempowering. Data from a specific research project as well as national statistics are considered. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]