ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at once to have an historical and a contemporary one. According to A. D. Chandler Jr., efficiency in production is achieved through increasing economies of scale and an ever greater division of labour, which effectively means deskilling, and the substitution of human skill by sophisticated machines. Far from the folksy traditionalists of the Anglo-American popular imagination, Handwerk not only commands tremendous social respect in Germany but comprises an important and dynamic economic sector. One historian has gone so far as to say that the key to Handwerk’s continued success has been its ability ‘to adapt to the conditions of an industrial economy — to industrialize itself’. This process has been sanctioned by the German courts responsible for rulings concerning the distinction between industry and Handwerk. In the postwar period, then, Handwerk at the level of both the individual firm and the various trades, has demonstrated an impressive adaptability to changing market conditions.
