Quand l’ouvrier devient robot: Représentations et pratiques ouvrières face aux stigmates de la déqualification

In warehouses of food retailers, handlers workers work with headphones on ears and a microphone in front of the mouth. This is a digital voice that tells them tasks to perform and they validate every gesture made by voice recognition, pronouncing keywords. When asked about the content of their work, they do not compare themselves fail to “robots”, stripped of their ability to act outside the imposed script. Outside observers often do the same, stunned by this strange dialogue between a digital tool and humans that meet its injunctions. If this conception of “automation” is not satisfactory in the light of the investigation immersion in warehouses, critical analysis of this terminology and its symbolic spring brings new light on how the working class is perceived and perceives. [googletranslate_en]