Workspace design, ergonomics and gender

Control of the worker and of the labor process, in an effort to maximize productivity, has always been of paramount importance for capitalist management. This attempt at control, historically, has been played out in the place of work or, more specifically, in the "space" of work. The capitalist workplace, as contested terrain and as the source of the methodologies of control, has been the focus of the struggle between workers and management (R. Edwards, 1979). The purpose of the paper is to analyze the historical development, utilization and purpose of workspace design. Discussion will center on material means that are used to deskill and control workers while maximizing productivity and therefore, profits. Ergonomics, as applied science and technology, and its manifestation as the means and method of human/machine interface and subsequent control, will be included in the discussion as well. An underlying theme throughout the paper will be the reduction and fragmentation of the human body into isolated, measurable and quantifiable material components, followed by the reassembly of selective components and their subsequent reunification with the machine. Technology will also be discussed as a boundary dissolving force. Specific topics include Taylorism, the effects of capitalism on work and the worker, and the social construction of workspace, including the impact of gender. Workspace design will be viewed as the material manifestation of management's attempt and need to completely isolate and then dominate the worker.