The increase in company outsourcing over the last two decades has led to the development of a new type of worker on the margins of the productive system: the call centre operator. Responsible for a wide range of information services, the rapid expansion in call centres has stirred the interest of a number of researchers in different areas of knowledge. Analyzing the work of the call centre operator, the article looks to deepen our comprehension of the sea-change currently affecting today's working class. In contrast to what many forecasted some fifteen years ago, the information revolution has failed to dissolve the opposition between manual and mental work activities: instead, it has served as a key instrument for controlling and routinizing intellectual work. In turning to this theme, we explore some of the insights into the contemporary working class condition found in the inspirational study by Stéphane Beaud and Michel Pialoux on the Peugeot car assembly plant in Sochaux-Montbéliard.
Information services; Proletarian condition; Call centre operators; Social classes