Protest and Participation: The New Working Class in Italy

This 1978 study examines the new working class of scientists, white collar professionals, and technicians that has emerged in advanced in industrial societies and considers its role in the political process. Professor Low-Beer examines the lives of a sample group of Italian electronics technicians, as theirs had been the most militant profession in Italy. Although Low-Beer warns against quick conclusions regarding the broader political significance of such desires, vivid quotations from interviews illustrate the principal longing indicated by his statistical analyses: for more control over work situation. Whilst describing the lifestyles and class imagery among the technicians, the author compares them to other groups, and concludes that strike participation is to be explained by the political backgrounds of workers, and only secondarily by organizational factors. Professor Low-Beer also analyses the significance of the increase that had occurred in the number of professionals in technical professions for the future of politics and industrial conflict.