Part of the DFG-funded cooperation project of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, the ISF Munich and the ZZF on „Politics of Inscription in der digitalen Transformation: Leistungssteuerung an der Schnittstelle von betrieblichen Strategien und Technikdesign“
The project deals with the fundamental changes in industrial labour and in the wake of the rise of digital technologies. It analyses the influence of digital change for corporate strategies and work processes in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry since the 1970s. "Labor" is understood as a social metabolism of humans and nature, the concrete form of which is the result of social negotiation processes under historically specific technological and material conditions.
Methodologically, the project is orientated towards a variant of historical company analysis extended by an environmental perspective. The focus is on West German chemical and pharmaceutical companies and their global interdependence. In addition, an asymmetrical comparison with companies in the GDR will be sought. On the one hand, archival material from the relevant companies serves as a source basis. On the other hand, research data from sociological studies of labour and industry are reinterpreted and analysed.
