Nierling, Linda | Germany

Nierling, Linda | Germany

Linda Nierling studied Environmental Sciences and Business Administration the University of Lueneburg, Germany and the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated in Environmental Sciences in autumn 2005. Since October 2005 she works as a research fellow at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. In 2011 she completed her doctoral thesis on recognition structures of sustainable work at the University of Frankfurt, Germany in the department of sociology. Her research focus lies on change processes in work, technology assessment, gender studies and sustainable development.

 

Project at IAS-STS: Technology and work - Revisiting and renewing the relationship in technology assessment

For many years, there was a strong focus on the connection between technology and work across different disciplines, not only in industrial sociology, but also in the field of technology and technology assessment. In the last years however, this relationship has becoming weaker and seems no longer be in the centre of the scientific discourses. Reasons for the decline of the topic lay in the change of the general economic structure, before industrial work was very much in centre of the scientific discussions of technology and work. Nevertheless, especially with the rise and development of new technologies, the relationship between technology and work is still there and important to analyse, however it remains ‘under analysed’. This has been already mentioned and criticised by some scholars.

In my research I intend to analyse the actual relationship between technology and work in a three step analysis: First, I will point out how the relationship between technology and work was constructed in former studies, where it was intensively discussed. Second current theoretical approaches in Science and Technology, Gender and work studies as well as technology assessment will be used to discover, how the topic of work is currently discussed in these technology focused research fields. In a third step, current developments in technological fields and technological innovations like e.g. Information- and Communication Technology, robotics, health care, autonomous systems will be used to renew the debates and discussions on technology and work in actual technological fields.

 

Selected Publications

Nierling, L. (2013): Anerkennung in erweiterter Arbeit. Eine Antwort auf die Krise der Erwerbsarbeit. Berlin: edition sigma.

Nierling, L. (2012): “This is a bit of the good life” – Recognition of unpaid work from the perspective of degrowth. In: Ecological Economics 84, S. 240-246.

Nierling, L. (2010): (Kollektive) Eigenarbeit in neuer Qualität? Der Prosumer im Kontext der Debatte um erweiterte Arbeit. In: Sozialwissenschaften und Berufspraxis. 22, 2, S. 194-205.

Krings, B.-J.; Nierling, L.; Pedaci, M. (2010): Out of control: changes in working-time and strategies for work-life balance in Europe. Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 4, 1, S. 136-159.

Nierling, L.; Krings, B.-J., (2009): Opportunities and Risks in Times of Globalisation - How gender affects working patterns in different occupations. In: Ex Aequo - Portuguese for Women's Studies Association, Bd. 18. S. 11-38.