Summary
SKILL: Laurie Taylor explores the social construction of skilled and unskilled work. Far from being objective categories, Chris Warhurst, Professor & Director of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, suggests a more complex history, one which has favoured male workers. They're joined by Natasha Iskander, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at NYU, whose new study takes us into Qatar’s booming construction industry in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup. She argues that the experiences of migrant workers reveals the way in which the distinction between the “skilled” and “unskilled” is used to limit freedom and personhood. Does skill make us human?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:36.6 | This is a Thinking Loud Podcasts from the BBC and for more details and much, much more about |
| 0:42.4 | thinking aloud, go to our website at BBC.co. |
| 0:47.0 | UK. Hello, my first grown-up job was in a Rayon factory which sat right next to the Grand National |
| 0:59.0 | Course in Laintree. I was hired as a train sales representative, which meant that if my work in the office was satisfactory, |
| 1:06.0 | then I'd be given a company of Oxhall Vivar and sent out on the road |
| 1:10.0 | to flog beams of Rayon to clothing manufacturers in Lancashire and Yorkshire. |
| 1:16.0 | This was described as a position that required sophisticated |
| 1:20.0 | interactional skills and that meant that I was never expected to mingle with the |
| 1:24.2 | hundreds of women workers in the actual factory. We even had our own dining room for |
| 1:29.6 | lunch complete with napkins and waitress service and I only got to see the inside of the |
| 1:34.6 | factory on just one occasion but I can well remember being completely dazzled by |
| 1:40.7 | the by the speed and by the dexterity of the women who worked in the conning room, |
| 1:46.4 | and the noise. |
| 1:48.4 | Thank God I had a staff position. Well that scene came back to me as I was reading a research paper entitled |
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