The political maintenance of ‘skill’: Labour process changes and artisan domination in the South African printing industry

Since the early 1950s, the labour process in South African print shops and newspapers has undergone revolutionary changes. However, the extensive deskilling and wholesale destruction of erstwhile craft jobs did not result in breaking ‘pseudo‐artisan’ domination over non‐journeymen at the point of production, or within the South African Typographical Union. This study investigates the institutional arrangements in the union, the industry and larger South African society which made it possible to salvage ‘pseudo‐artisan’ rule until the end of the 1980's.