Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop

by Douglas Harper

In this engaging ethnography, illustrated with nearly 100 photographs, Douglas Harper examines the "working knowledge" of a machinist with a small shop in upstate New York. Harper gives us this man's philosophy of work and shows how his work fits into the web of life in his community. In addition to fairly conventional auto and farm equipment repair, he rebuilds and creates new machines out of salvaged materials, drawing on his deep knowledge of these materials and how machines work. Harper's study addresses the large issues of the historical shift from the independent work of the medieval artisan to industrial production and the increasing automation of today. His ethnographic skills bring substance to his consideration of de-skilling, alienation, and the rationalization of work in the contemporary world.

Paperback

First published July 27, 1987

Reviews

[Bryan Kibbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting study of a mechanic named Willie that runs a repair shop in the rural north country of New York. The text offers a good blend of thoughtful photographs, detailed descriptions of shop practices and reasoning, and also some philosophical consideration of the ontological, epistemological, and moral significance and meaning of Willie's approach to repair and restoration inside of a lower income, farming community.