Informatization and Increased Demands on Knowledge and Subjectivity

Informatization and the increased role of knowledge in modern processes of production or organization are often equalized or seen as two successive stages of development as might be seen in the usage of the terms "informations society" and "knowledge society". I want to argue the thesis that the two relate to each other in a complex relationship of complementarity and contradiction.

To do so I want to formulate a theoretically rich concept of informatization which, on one hand, shows substantial extensions of formalized processes and structures, but, on the other hand, the parallel growth and re-birth of limits to this formalization; for this reason permanent approaches to contextualize and re-contextualize these formalization processes and its results by human knowledge are necessary. This presupposes more flexible, often more demanding, the subjective side of work and employment including forms of work practice. In industrial sociology the debates on the enhanced role of subjectivity in work (in German language the term "subjectification" was coined to describe that), on the dimensions of flexibilization and the erosion of boundaries between work and life reflect this tendency. New forms of risk, new health dangers, the increase of what Sennett calls "drift", but also new chances to shape reality and possibilities of freedom result from this development.