8. Conclusion

The question is, of course, what social and political consequences the recent changes in the industry and in the sociological profile of its workforce effect. The capital-intensive investments in sophisticated machinery and infrastructure grants the male skilled workers operating them a more powerful position than their female workmates ever had. Their identification as ‘middle class’ and their prospects of promotion and upward social mobility suggests that they might be less willing to engage in collective class action than women workers have often done during the last decades. How their subjectivity and position in the industry will shape their politics and in what contexts, still needs to be seen. And it should be remembered that also women workers were initially considered to make for an ideal workforce that would not challenge transnational capital.