Introduction to Sociology

Answer: Symbolic Interactionists. Correct. Symbolic interactionists are interested in how objects signify certain meanings, including personal prestige, within society. 

Slide 6

Luddites

The original Luddites were labor activists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in England who found themselves in a transitional period when hand-crafted items were increasingly being made by new machines. While the machines still required human operators, some of the more labor-intensive production steps became unnecessary, which meant that less-skilled workers could be hired. This reduced wages and made some specialized jobs obsolete. Wages fell as the owners' profits actually increased, making the situation even more contentious.
As part of their protest, the Luddites smashed the new machines and effectively sabotaged production. 

To a conflict theorist, the potential for technology to reduce the value of labor is a problem, and is more broadly systemic in its effects than is the personal isolation that symbolic interactionists might attend to.

In present-day contexts, a Luddite or Neo-Luddite is somebody who is skeptical of or opposed to technology.

Slide 7
College student Dhruv has taken a temporary night job during the holiday break at an online retailer's distribution center. During his first day he notices that a group of technicians are assembling a half-dozen electric forklifts that have no seats or steering wheels.
A few days later when these automated machines are brought into service, Dhruv and his fellow workers struggle to unpack the large boxes that are now much more rapidly deposited in front of them at the merchandise sorting tables. While the pace and physicality of work has increased dramatically since his first day on the job, Dhruv's compensation remains the same for the entire contracted period.
The effects of this semi-automated warehouse technology on labor and wages might be examined by 

• 
  Functionalists
  
• 
  Conflict theorists
  
• 
  Symbolic interactionists
  
  
  

Answer: Conflict theorists. Correct. Conflict theorists are concerned with how power is unequally distributed among individuals and groups in society. In our example technology affects the relative value of labor, and therefore one's economic power as a worker within capitalism.