GENDER, ETHNICITY AND TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE

This article explores the work experiences of women and men. all immigrants, at one of Volvo's largest car assembly plants. It poses questions about what happens to them in the process of technological change and how they interpret their situation. Starting with a critical assessment of theories on the new organization of work from a gender and ethnic perspective, the study analyses the effects of gendered and ethnicized thinking in the work process. By comparing the work experiences of Finnish and Yugoslav women and men with regard to work situation, internal skill and career development in the context of technological change, a gendered and ethnic pattern emerges. The results indicate that gendered values exclude women immigrants from opportunities inherent in technological change, irrespective of their particular ethnic origin. Immigrant men, on the other hand, are selectively affected by obstacles to career development, by different sets of ethnic prejudice that have developed.