BY DAYS I MAKE THE CARS
作者通过亲身参与和访谈调查，描述了汽车装配线工人的工作感受，发现工人对工作、公司和工会的关注，以及他们适应单调工作的各种方式，包括有害行为。
Life experienced by an automobile assembly line worker is described, and feelings of workers about their jobs were explored in three separate ways. The author spent five months as a line employee; he extensively interviewed 22 workers; and he distributed a questionnaire to all workers in the final assembly complex on both shifts of a particular day, receiving 209 usable responses. Most workers' feelings centered mainly around the job itself, the company, and the union. When discussing the possibility for change, most workers commented on management or supervisory style in the plant or on other general modifications. Although workers wanted changes, they were uncertain about the mechanisms for effecting change. On-the-job observation indicated that after arriving at the plant workers spend time in undefined activities (talking and setting up concession stands). During the eight-hour day, workers adapt to the sameness of their jobs in a number of ways, (e.g. playing games, working slowly to force themselves to catch up, and trading jobs). Some workers adapt in harmful ways (e.g. drugs, liquor, sabotage, and theft). It was concluded that workers may become more interested in how decisions are made if the occupational environment is adequate. The real problem in assuring appropriate working conditions stems from company impersonality, bad stock, and favoritism. Human relations are just as important as industrial relations in the automobile assembly line plant.