The Clerical Profession and the Administrative Revolution: the Rise of the Modern Workplace in Britain, 1919-1979.

20世纪世纪英国职业生活的最显著变化之一是非体力劳动力的指数增长。与文书有关的工作是这一部门增长最快的类别之一。现代公司的发展需要大量的文书工作和管理系统。新技术-如加法机、静电复印机和电动打字机-为工作场所带来了更快的速度和更清晰的文字，而合理化的工作程序则将办公室变成了商业的神经中枢。然而，令人惊讶的是，我们对这对职员工作生活的影响知之甚少。这个项目提供了一个新的角度对文书工作者，并建立了一个特别丰富的，但最近的英国社会，经济，性别和商业历史的研究不足方面的理解增强。1919年至1979年期间（当撒切尔主义标志着一个新时代的劳资关系和服务部门的扩张）见证了办公室环境的转变。它越来越被认为是现代工作场所的所在地。随着时间的推移，文职人员、同事和工作场所之间的关系发生了怎样的变化？这个职业群体是如何被阶级、性别和新技术塑造的？办事员职业的工作性质或责任并不一致。为了最大限度地提高地位，经济报酬，并与体力劳动者保持距离，越来越多的文员希望重新定义这个职业的专业界限。然而，这种“专业”的职业生涯并不开放给越来越多的办事员劳动力，对他们来说，办公室的职业生涯可能被视为一个任命，直到结婚。文书工作的任务是如何在日常工作和职业或管理路线之间分配的？为了回答这些问题，该项目将首次使用来自领先公司（米德兰银行，保诚保险公司，伦敦运输和邮政局）的多个案例研究来研究文书工作者，这些案例涉及一系列行业（银行，保险，运输和邮政服务）。它将调查征聘和晋升机会以及培训经费，以跟踪职业发展道路。性别分工的调整和维持将有助于对性别职业隔离的研究日益增多。技术常常被认为是男子气概。然而，技术变革与办公室工作之间的关系更为复杂，对办事员职业的研究将为理解性别与技术的社会结构提供新的参照系。通过研究职员协会和工会，我们可以把重点放在工作场所作为行动主义的重要场所。考虑到文书工作者抵制、谈判和塑造工作环境的方式，这项研究将挑战专门关注第一次世界大战后白领工作条件恶化的学术辩论。2013年，经济史学会的一笔小额研究赠款资助了一个成功的神职人员行动主义试点项目。作为AHRC研究网络“定制行业：服装，劳动和专业社区”的共同调查员，我开发了关于服装在专业身份和女职员话语中的作用的研究。通过与主教门研究所和工人阶级运动图书馆合作，该项目将受益于与外部用户的接触，并产生公众影响。两人都收藏了大量与职员有关的藏品。此次合作将为人们的日常工作生活提供丰富的见解，同时也将探索新的创新方法来创作和应用公共历史。

One of the most dramatic changes to working lives in twentieth century Britain was the exponential growth of the non-manual labour force. Clerical-related work was one of the fastest growing categories in this sector. The growth of modern corporations necessitated a flood of paperwork and administrative systems. New technologies - such as adding machines, Xerography and electric typewriters - brought greater speed and legibility to the workplace whilst rationalized work procedures transformed offices into nerve centres of business. Yet we know surprising little about the impact this had on the working lives of clerks. This project provides a fresh perspective on clerical workers and establishes an enhanced understanding of a particularly rich yet under-researched aspect of recent British social, economic, gender and business history.The period from 1919 to 1979 (when Thatcherism marked a new era of industrial relations and expansion of the service sector) witnessed the transformation of the office environment. It was increasingly identified as the location of the modern workplace. How did the relationship between clerical workers, their colleagues and the workplace change over time? How was this occupational group shaped by class, gender and new technologies? There was not uniformity in the nature of work or responsibilities among clerical occupations. To maximise status, financial remuneration, and to distance themselves from manual workers, an increasing number of clerks wished to redefine the professional boundaries of this occupation. However this 'professional' career was not open to a growing segment of the clerical workforce for whom an office career may have been viewed an appointment until marriage. How were tasks of clerical work divided between this routine work and a career that followed a professional or managerial route? To answer these questions this project will be the first to examine clerical workers using multiple case studies from leading companies (Midland Bank, Prudential Assurance Company, London Transport and the Post Office) that cut across a range of industries (banking, insurance, transport and postal service). It will investigate recruitment and promotional opportunities, alongside provisions for training, in order to track career pathways. The restructuring and maintenance of a sexual division of labour will contribute to the growing scholarship on gendered occupational segregation. Technology was often identified with masculinity. However the relationship between technological change and office work was more complicated and a study of the clerical profession will provide a new frame of reference for understanding the social construction of gender and technology. By examining clerical staff associations and trade unions, we can focus on the workplace as an important site of activism. Considering ways clerical workers resisted, negotiated and shaped their working environments, the research will challenge academic debates focusing exclusively on the degradation of white-collar working conditions after the First World War.The project builds on earlier part-funded research activity. A 2013 Economic History Society small research grant funded a successful pilot project on clerical activism. As Co-Investigator of the AHRC research network 'Tailored Trades: Clothes, Labour and Professional Communities', I developed research on the role of clothing in discourses of professional identity and female clerks. By working in partnership with the Bishopsgate Institute and Working Class Movement Library, the project will benefit from engaging with external users and have a public impact. Both hold extensive collections relating to clerks. The collaboration will offer a rich insight into people's daily working lives, while also exploring new, innovative approaches to the creation and application of public history.