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  • Observations on Work, Employment & Education

    Reinhold Gaubitsch & Jörg Markowitsch

    Unfil­te­red working realities. The appren­ti­ce­ship of a skilled canner

    A critical look at archival vocational guidance films can sharpen one's view of major changes in the world of work and occupations. Making, taking a closer look at a Swiss television report on the apprenticeship of canners from the 1960s, worth it.

    On the basis of four snippets, we would like to point out decisive cha­rac­te­ris­tics of voca­tio­nal guidance films in the 1960s. It is of central impor­t­ance that the example in question deals with an indus­tri­al occup­a­ti­on, so it is set in an indus­tri­al envi­ron­ment and testifies to the Fordist-Taylorist concept of pro­duc­tion at that time. The assembly line appears as the dominant moment that deter­mi­nes the work process, where appren­ti­ces appear as cogs in the machine that should be “assembled” as effi­ci­ent­ly as possible (*).

    Appren­ti­ces and factory staff look atten­tively at the running assembly line (shots 4–17, 0:50).  The appren­ti­ces’ forebo­din­gly stern facial expres­si­ons seem to express the serious­ness of the situation. The appren­ti­ces are shown in close-up and half-total, the shots of the assembly line are also mainly close-up detailed shots. The appren­ti­ces are shown en masse, there is still no noti­ce­ab­le tendency towards indi­vi­dua­li­sa­ti­on, as the assembly line, the change of shot size and duration create the impres­si­on a dynamism.

    On the one hand we see a static training situation with a close-up of the trainer, which empha­si­ses the serious­ness of what is being said, and on the other hand we see close-ups of the conveyor belt and short tracking shots during the lecture in order to loosen up the per­for­mance. The master (shot 18, 1:20) embodies authority and impor­t­ance and provides rather com­pre­hen­si­ve infor­ma­ti­on (use­ful­ness of multiple skills, areas of employ­ment in the company, possible careers, etc.). Work virtues or skills are not ela­bo­ra­ted on, but are sum­ma­ri­sed with the expres­si­on “be capable”. In part, this may be due to a lack of work analyses and a lack of an inventory of terms. However, there is a noti­ce­ab­le “nar­row­ness” in the pre­sen­ta­ti­on of career paths. The subtext here could be, “You’re going to be indus­tri­al workers and you’re going to stay that way, get over it, you’ll make a living and it’s good for the company.”

    Cut to the jam kitchen, the atmo­s­phe­re of a com­mer­cial kitchen (shots 22–28, 1:59), the cooking vat for mixing jam in semi-close-up shot, then zoom in on the surface of the jam mix. The comment of the foreman: “It’s just like mother’s” — seems appeasing and almost touching due to the obvious dis­crepan­cy to the visual representation.

    In the depiction of the indus­tri­al pro­duc­tion, there is a clear dif­fe­rence to today‘s images of the world of work. The jam sticks to the pro­duc­tion line (min 2:20), the sauer­kraut hangs in shreds on machine parts (min 1:07). Such aes­the­ti­ci­sa­ti­on of labour or aesthetic capi­ta­lism as the­ma­tised by Andreas Reckwitz and Gernot Böhme is reserved for post-Fordism.

    In short: The film seems dynamic and almost immersive because of the rhythm set by the machinery and the assembly line. The effec­tively staged pro­duc­tion becomes the “ticking clock” and in actuality the “main actor”. The con­s­tric­tion and over-depen­den­cy of the labour force that this conveys may be jarring from today’s per­spec­ti­ve, but it is an unavo­ida­ble feature of the pro­duc­tion regime of that time. The most striking dif­fe­rence to today concerns the objective repre­sen­ta­ti­on of reality: no embel­lish­ment is aimed for, only the visua­li­sa­ti­on of func­tio­n­a­li­ty dominates. Likewise, indi­vi­dua­li­sa­ti­on is obviously not yet a cha­rac­te­ris­tic of voca­tio­nal guidance films. In terms of film com­po­si­ti­on, however, there are hardly any dif­fe­ren­ces to con­tem­pora­ry filmma­king of this type.

    Canners became “canners and freezers” in 1970, “canner and freezer tech­no­lo­gists” in 1983, and these finally became our “food tech­no­lo­gists” of today. The trans­for­ma­ti­on and aes­the­ti­ci­sa­ti­on of the training occup­a­ti­on are thus also reflected in the evolution of job titles. Obviously, we have kept up tending to polish up the ter­mi­no­lo­gy and repre­sen­ta­ti­on of the world of work for quite some time, while “keeping up with Kardashians”.

    Dr. Reinhold Gaubitsch is a political scientist and was, until his reti­re­ment, project manager in the Depart­ment of Labor Market and Career Infor­ma­ti­on of the Public Employ­ment Service Austria and respon­si­ble, among other things, for voca­tio­nal guidance films.

    (*) In her his­to­ri­cal discourse analysis, Lena Frei­dor­fer uses 600 newspaper articles to describe the changes in the image of appren­ti­ces in the cantons of German-speaking Switz­er­land between 1950 and 1970: from the con­for­mist “pro­duc­tion factor” (1950–1959) to the appren­ti­ce in need of pro­tec­tion (1960 — 1967) to the pro­tes­ting appren­ti­ce (from 1968). What can be seen in the film is certainly a mixture of the first two with an emphasis on the ‘pro­duc­tion factor’.

    Refe­ren­ces:
    Böhme, Gernot (2016). Ästhe­ti­scher Kapi­ta­lis­mus, Berlin: Suhrkamp.
    Frei­dor­fer-Kabashi, L. (2020): Vom „Lehrling“ zum „Lernenden “ – Zur Wahr­neh­mung Jugend­li­cher in Aus­bil­dung im Zuge der Trans­for­ma­ti­on der beruf­li­chen Bildung [From “appren­ti­ce” to “learner” — The per­cep­ti­on of young people in training during the trans­for­ma­ti­on of voca­tio­nal education and training]. In: bwp@ Berufs- und Wirt­schafts­päd­ago­gik – online, Ausgabe 38, 1–34. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/ausgabe38/freidorfer-kabashi_bwpat38.pdf (24.06.2020).
    Reckwitz, Andreas (2008). Elemente einer Sozio­lo­gie des Ästhe­ti­schen, In: Reckwitz, Andreas, Unscharfe Grenzen: Per­spek­ti­ven der Kul­tur­so­zio­lo­gie, tran­script Verlag.

     

    Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter ´(occupation: canner), CH 1964, SRF Archiv 

    Shot18, The master talks, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 19-21, Details assembly line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 22-28, jam kitchen, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Dirty production line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 4-17, Observing the production line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Tags

    Unfil­te­red working realities. The appren­ti­ce­ship of a skilled canner

    Reinhold Gaubitsch & Jörg Markowitsch

    A critical look at archival vocational guidance films can sharpen one's view of major changes in the world of work and occupations. Making, taking a closer look at a Swiss television report on the apprenticeship of canners from the 1960s, worth it.

    On the basis of four snippets, we would like to point out decisive cha­rac­te­ris­tics of voca­tio­nal guidance films in the 1960s. It is of central impor­t­ance that the example in question deals with an indus­tri­al occup­a­ti­on, so it is set in an indus­tri­al envi­ron­ment and testifies to the Fordist-Taylorist concept of pro­duc­tion at that time. The assembly line appears as the dominant moment that deter­mi­nes the work process, where appren­ti­ces appear as cogs in the machine that should be “assembled” as effi­ci­ent­ly as possible (*).

    Appren­ti­ces and factory staff look atten­tively at the running assembly line (shots 4–17, 0:50).  The appren­ti­ces’ forebo­din­gly stern facial expres­si­ons seem to express the serious­ness of the situation. The appren­ti­ces are shown in close-up and half-total, the shots of the assembly line are also mainly close-up detailed shots. The appren­ti­ces are shown en masse, there is still no noti­ce­ab­le tendency towards indi­vi­dua­li­sa­ti­on, as the assembly line, the change of shot size and duration create the impres­si­on a dynamism.

    On the one hand we see a static training situation with a close-up of the trainer, which empha­si­ses the serious­ness of what is being said, and on the other hand we see close-ups of the conveyor belt and short tracking shots during the lecture in order to loosen up the per­for­mance. The master (shot 18, 1:20) embodies authority and impor­t­ance and provides rather com­pre­hen­si­ve infor­ma­ti­on (use­ful­ness of multiple skills, areas of employ­ment in the company, possible careers, etc.). Work virtues or skills are not ela­bo­ra­ted on, but are sum­ma­ri­sed with the expres­si­on “be capable”. In part, this may be due to a lack of work analyses and a lack of an inventory of terms. However, there is a noti­ce­ab­le “nar­row­ness” in the pre­sen­ta­ti­on of career paths. The subtext here could be, “You’re going to be indus­tri­al workers and you’re going to stay that way, get over it, you’ll make a living and it’s good for the company.”

    Cut to the jam kitchen, the atmo­s­phe­re of a com­mer­cial kitchen (shots 22–28, 1:59), the cooking vat for mixing jam in semi-close-up shot, then zoom in on the surface of the jam mix. The comment of the foreman: “It’s just like mother’s” — seems appeasing and almost touching due to the obvious dis­crepan­cy to the visual representation.

    In the depiction of the indus­tri­al pro­duc­tion, there is a clear dif­fe­rence to today‘s images of the world of work. The jam sticks to the pro­duc­tion line (min 2:20), the sauer­kraut hangs in shreds on machine parts (min 1:07). Such aes­the­ti­ci­sa­ti­on of labour or aesthetic capi­ta­lism as the­ma­tised by Andreas Reckwitz and Gernot Böhme is reserved for post-Fordism.

    In short: The film seems dynamic and almost immersive because of the rhythm set by the machinery and the assembly line. The effec­tively staged pro­duc­tion becomes the “ticking clock” and in actuality the “main actor”. The con­s­tric­tion and over-depen­den­cy of the labour force that this conveys may be jarring from today’s per­spec­ti­ve, but it is an unavo­ida­ble feature of the pro­duc­tion regime of that time. The most striking dif­fe­rence to today concerns the objective repre­sen­ta­ti­on of reality: no embel­lish­ment is aimed for, only the visua­li­sa­ti­on of func­tio­n­a­li­ty dominates. Likewise, indi­vi­dua­li­sa­ti­on is obviously not yet a cha­rac­te­ris­tic of voca­tio­nal guidance films. In terms of film com­po­si­ti­on, however, there are hardly any dif­fe­ren­ces to con­tem­pora­ry filmma­king of this type.

    Canners became “canners and freezers” in 1970, “canner and freezer tech­no­lo­gists” in 1983, and these finally became our “food tech­no­lo­gists” of today. The trans­for­ma­ti­on and aes­the­ti­ci­sa­ti­on of the training occup­a­ti­on are thus also reflected in the evolution of job titles. Obviously, we have kept up tending to polish up the ter­mi­no­lo­gy and repre­sen­ta­ti­on of the world of work for quite some time, while “keeping up with Kardashians”.

    Dr. Reinhold Gaubitsch is a political scientist and was, until his reti­re­ment, project manager in the Depart­ment of Labor Market and Career Infor­ma­ti­on of the Public Employ­ment Service Austria and respon­si­ble, among other things, for voca­tio­nal guidance films.

    (*) In her his­to­ri­cal discourse analysis, Lena Frei­dor­fer uses 600 newspaper articles to describe the changes in the image of appren­ti­ces in the cantons of German-speaking Switz­er­land between 1950 and 1970: from the con­for­mist “pro­duc­tion factor” (1950–1959) to the appren­ti­ce in need of pro­tec­tion (1960 — 1967) to the pro­tes­ting appren­ti­ce (from 1968). What can be seen in the film is certainly a mixture of the first two with an emphasis on the ‘pro­duc­tion factor’.

    Refe­ren­ces:
    Böhme, Gernot (2016). Ästhe­ti­scher Kapi­ta­lis­mus, Berlin: Suhrkamp.
    Frei­dor­fer-Kabashi, L. (2020): Vom „Lehrling“ zum „Lernenden “ – Zur Wahr­neh­mung Jugend­li­cher in Aus­bil­dung im Zuge der Trans­for­ma­ti­on der beruf­li­chen Bildung [From “appren­ti­ce” to “learner” — The per­cep­ti­on of young people in training during the trans­for­ma­ti­on of voca­tio­nal education and training]. In: bwp@ Berufs- und Wirt­schafts­päd­ago­gik – online, Ausgabe 38, 1–34. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/ausgabe38/freidorfer-kabashi_bwpat38.pdf (24.06.2020).
    Reckwitz, Andreas (2008). Elemente einer Sozio­lo­gie des Ästhe­ti­schen, In: Reckwitz, Andreas, Unscharfe Grenzen: Per­spek­ti­ven der Kul­tur­so­zio­lo­gie, tran­script Verlag.

     

    Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter ´(occupation: canner), CH 1964, SRF Archiv

    Shot18, The master talks, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 19-21, Details assembly line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 22-28, jam kitchen, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Dirty production line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Shots 4-17, Observing the production line, "Beruf Konservenfacharbeiter", CH 1964

    Tags


    The limits of our imagination of the future: men doing housework!

    The limits of our ima­gi­na­ti­on of the future: men doing housework!

    It is difficult to conceive the future as something open to objective analysis. The future is inevitably intangible. There is, however, one exception: the future of the past. "Past’s futures" such as those manifested in commercials of the 1950s and 1960s reveal many interesting things, for instance the lack of imagination of social change.

    The Future of Work: Science and Science Fiction

    The Future of Work: Science and Science Fiction

    Futurology has long since established itself as a scientific discipline. Why research should not be aversed to borrow from science fiction films becomes evident in the British miniseries Years and Years (2019) by Russell T. Davies.

    THE WALKING MAN

    THE WALKING MAN

    Work ennobles. Work makes life sweeter. Sayings like these apodictically inscribe the principle of work into people's consciousness as the right and good thing to do. When American TV show us an example of this ideal, it is to double-down on the proliferation of the message of ‘a hero of labour’ : James Roberston – the walking man.

    Power Plant Employment

    Power Plant Employment

    Movies and documentaries on reactor disasters were trending last year. 10 years since Fukushima and 35 years since Chernobyl rolled the carpet out. For a true insight into the working world of nuclear power plants, however, I do recommend going further back, to Volker Sattel's "Unter Kontrolle" (2011).

    Japan's sea lions

    Japan’s sea lions

    Anti-stereotypical professions: Ama-San and Haenyo ─ apnoea divers in Japan and Korea

    Fischli and Weiss as DIY

    Fischli and Weiss as DIY

    A young Youtuber has presumably unwittingly made a remake of Fischli and Weiss' famous art video "The Way Things Go" (1987), raising interesting questions about the relationship between art, professional craft and DIY.

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    About this blog

    By selecting a film or an image, this blog literally illus­tra­tes the vast sphere of work, employ­ment & education in an open collec­tion of academic, artistic and also anecdotal findings.

    About us

    Konrad Wakol­bin­ger makes docu­men­ta­ry films about work and life. Jörg Mar­ko­witsch does research on education and work. They are both based in Vienna. Infor­ma­ti­on on guest authors can be found in their cor­re­spon­ding articles.

    More about

    Inte­res­ted in more? Find recom­men­da­ti­ons on relevant festivals, film collec­tions and lite­ra­tu­re here.

    About this blog

    With picking a film or an image, this blog literally illus­tra­tes the vast sphere of work, employ­ment & education in an open collec­tion of academic, artistic and also anecdotal findings.

    About us

    Konrad Wakol­bin­ger makes docu­men­ta­ry films about work and life. Jörg Mar­ko­witsch does research on education and work. We both work in Vienna. Infor­ma­ti­on on guest authors can be found in their respec­ti­ve articles.

    More about

    Inte­res­ted in more? Find recom­men­da­ti­ons on relevant festivals, film collec­tions and lite­ra­tu­re here.