António Moniz

Industrial rationalization represents a decisive moment of the strategic development of business activities in the last few years. In this sense, it is also a theoretical challenge to Industrial Sociology, since the dimensions, both technical and social, of that rationalization can be underlined. The analysis of the better-known different patterns of rationalization allows us a further knowledge of the main strategies for industrial modernization. Accordingly, this paper presents some results deriving from the application of those strategies. Finally, this paper gives a particular attention to the more recent tendencies of development of integrated systems of production, particularly of those focusing upon the social and organizational aspects of industrial rationalization.

The analysis on the technological and organizational change in the European industry, and particularlly the Portuguese one, has been studied at CESO I&D since its foundation on 1988. Few time after that, started a development project that started from a previous research project on the same topics, and supported by JNICT (Ministry of Science). In that projecto we continued to process data that was then not possible to do in the first one. It was then possible to continue a research programme that was urgent and determinant in the field of industrial sociology in Portugal. It focus again on the processes of technological and organizational change in the manufacturing industry.

A sociologia tem como objecto de análise a acção social e a sua expressão nas relações sociais. Estas relações estão organizadas de múltiplas formas, e conhecem infinitos tipos de interacções humanas. No entanto, o conjunto de relações em que os indivíduos se opõem ou criam laços de solidariedade fundamenta-se e verifica-se na esfera da produção. É efectivamente neste domínio que a conduta humana encontra uma das suas mais importantes determinações. Assim, o desenvolvimento da organização industrial acabou por fornecer verdadeiramente algumas das características essenciais da sociedade moderna. Uma delas é o fenómeno da especialização que se acentuou particularmente na indústria e acabou por abraçar praticamente todos os outros domínios da actividade humana.