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> When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology? Containerized shipping. Interest
by spenczar5 10y ago
> When was the last time an entire category of jobs became obsolete fast enough that laid off employees blamed the technology?
Containerized shipping. Interestingly, it's in the world of logistics too. Longshoremen/dockworkers/stevedores used to be among the most common occupations in the US at the turn of the century, but now the industry employs a tiny fraction. A small group of a few hundred people can effectively run an enormous port like Oakland's.
Yes, the employees blamed the technology, but so did local governments. Places like Baltimore relied pretty heavily on the docks to supply their population with jobs; when those disappeared quickly many cities (especially on the eastern US coast) had a really tough time economically.
- unk 10y agoSource: The Wire Season 2.
- spenczar5 10y agoActual source: The Box by Marc Levinson. Highly recommended. First chapter is available online: http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8131.pdf http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8131.pdf
- fullshark 10y agoIt always bothered me that they gave Sobotka the "We used to make shit in this country" line considering his entire job was importing stuff made in other countries.
- gwern 10y agoYou need to import shit to make shit. Whether the shit is local or international, water remains the cheapest form of transport.
- remarkEon 10y agoThat line felt to me to be more of a global critique of the decline of consistent blue collar employment in industrial towns, like Baltimore.
- fullshark 10y agoIt seemed a bit too on the nose. The Wire is great but a few thesis statement lines like this scattered throughout bug me.
- remarkEon 10y agoI've watched through probably a dozen times, and yes I can definitely see that. My comment was probably letting my rust belt roots in Minnesota shining through. That and seeing and reading a lot of what David Simon has said outside of The Wire.
- pkaye 10y agoApparently in some parts of the world the docks have been further automated that hardly any dockworkers are needed but for obvious reasons, in the US, they have been able to limit that somewhat. I guess it wont fully happen here until the current generation retires.