The tyranny of scarcity: learning and economy at the construction site

Abstract

This article investigates the interplay between learning and economy in the cooperation between participants from different professions on a construction site. From a situated perspective it is claimed that learning and economy are linked in two different ways: Firstly, it is argued that the participants have differing economic interests, which dynamically constitute the continual negotiations across professions. The economic interests are often contradictory to aspects of quality in the work, and it is claimed that learning involves the continual negotiation of this fundamental contradiction. Secondly, it is argued that the negotiations are carried out on the basis of an overall regulatory principle, which involves an economical logic based on reciprocal give-and-take relations between the different professions. In this way, issues of economy dynamically constitute and regulate practice. The conceptualisations are underpinned by qualitative interviews and participant observation from a construction site, and from a situated perspective it is suggested that issues of economy must be understood as preconditions for learning in the cooperation between different professions.

Keywords:

• contradictions
• cooperation
• economy
• give-and-take relations
• learning

Notes

1. Generally, the interviews tended to last at least 30 min. The short interview had to be stopped after 8 min due to an unexpected interruption by another craftsman.