ABSTRACT Title of Document: FIREFIGHTING IN THE NEW ECONOMY: CHANGES IN SKILL AND THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY Brian W. Ward, Ph.D., 2010 Directed By: Dr. Bart Landry, Department of Sociology To better understand the shift in workers’ skills in the New Economy, a case study of professional firefighters ( n= 42) was conducted using semi-structured interviews to empirically examine skill change and the impact of technology. A conceptual model was designed by both introducing new ideas and integrating traditional and contemporary social theory. The first component of this model categorized firefighters’ skills according to the job-context in which they occurred, including: fire related emergencies, non-fire related emergencies, the fire station, and non-fire non-emergencies. The second component of this model drew from Braverman’s (1998/1974) skill dimension concept and was used to identify both the complexity and autonomy/control-related aspects of skill in each job-context. Finally, Autor and colleagues’ (2002) hypothesis was adapted to determine if routinized components of skill were either supplemented or complemented by new technologies. The findings indicated that skill change among firefighters was clearly present, but not uniform across job-contexts. A substantial increase in both the complexity and autonomy/control-related skill dimensions was present in the non-fire emergency context (particularly due to increased EMS-related skills). In fire emergencies, some skills diminished across both dimensions (e.g., operating the engine’s pump), yet others had a slight increase due to the introduction of new technologies. In contrast to these two contexts, the fire station and non-fire non- emergency job-contexts had less skill change. Technology played a major role in the skill change experienced by firefighters. Surprisingly, aside from the introduction of computerized engine pumpers, the technology introduced did not diminish skill by replacing routinized tasks (Autor et al. 2002), and also did not create an overall decrease in firefighters’ skill as would be suggested by Braverman (1998/1974). Instead new technologies tended to create new skills for firefighters, especially in the fire and non-fire emergency contexts. Similar to the consistent level of skill used in the fire station and non-fire non-emergency contexts, with only few exceptions (e.g., computers) technology’s impact on firefighters’ skill was found to be rather limited in these two dimensions. Using the tenets detailed in the conceptual model, a more elaborate understanding of skill change and technology’s impact was able to be realized. FIREFIGHTING IN THE NEW ECONOMY: CHANGES IN SKILL AND THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY By Brian W. Ward Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Bart Landry, Chair Professor Ritu Agarwal Professor Emeritus Jerald Hage Associate Professor Joseph J. Lengermann Professor Reeve Vanneman © Copyright by Brian W. Ward 2010 Acknowledgements There are a few sets of individuals who deserve acknowledgement for the assistance they provided me throughout the course of my dissertation research. First and foremost are the two fire departments at which I interviewed. Without the willingness of the men and women from both of these departments, especially the firefighters, I would have never been able to complete my dissertation research. I could not thank them enough for taking the time out of their busy schedules to sit down and talk with me about the different tasks they complete on a day-to-day basis. Although I cannot use their names for confidentiality reasons, I would specifically like to thank the two firefighters who put me in contact with their fire departments. I would not have able to even begin my dissertation research without your help! Next, I would like to give my sincere thanks to my committee chair and advisor, Bart Landry. I have learned and benefited tremendously from his insight, guidance, and patience throughout not only the dissertation process, but also the duration of my graduate school career. I do not know how I would have been able to make it through the sociology program without his help! The members of my dissertation committee also deserve a big “thank you:” Ritu Agarwal, Jerry Hage, Joe Lengermann, and Reeve Vanneman. Their insightful comments and guidance were an important part of the dissertation process, and something that will be invaluable as I move forward from this research project. Also, thanks to Katrina Knudsen for assisting with navigating all the formal paperwork involved with completing a dissertation. ii Last but not least, my family – Mom, Dad, Jes, Tim, Billy, and of course Heather – all deserve a big “thank you” for their support. I am sure it was not fun for them to listen to me yap about my dissertation for two and a half years while trying to seem interested, but they did it anyway. I am joking around here, but in all seriousness I love them and truly appreciate their support! iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................ 7 Patterns and Causes of Skill Change ........................................................................ 7 Sociological literature ........................................................................................... 7 Economic literature ............................................................................................. 10 The Conceptualization of Skill ............................................................................... 14 Braverman’s conceptualization ........................................................................... 15 Alternative dimensions ....................................................................................... 17 Occupation-specific skills ................................................................................... 18 Routinized/non-routinized skills ......................................................................... 20 The Measurement of Skill ....................................................................................... 20 Methodological categorization ............................................................................ 21 Measurement categorization ............................................................................... 23 The DOT and O*NET ......................................................................................... 24 Technology and Skill in the Context of Firefighting .............................................. 27 Chapter 3: Theoretical and Conceptual Arguments .................................................... 32 Theoretical Argument ............................................................................................. 32 The job-context skill level .................................................................................. 32 Skill dimensions .................................................................................................. 35 Routinization/non-routinization classification .................................................... 39 Summary ................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 4: Methodology and Study Design ................................................................ 43 Context and Fire Department Background ............................................................. 44 The WCFD context and background .................................................................. 44 The RCFD context and background ................................................................... 47 Data Collection Procedures ..................................................................................... 50 Procedures for the WCFD ................................................................................... 50 Procedures for the RCFD .................................................................................... 54 Sample..................................................................................................................... 56 Sample of WCFD firefighters ............................................................................. 56 Sample of RCFD firefighters .............................................................................. 57 Interview and Questionnaire ................................................................................... 57 Preparation and pre-testing ................................................................................. 60 A Final Note on Interviewing ................................................................................. 62 Coding ..................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 5: “The Wet Stuff on the Red Stuff” – Fire Related Emergencies ............... 65 Brief Introduction to the Results Chapters.............................................................. 65