ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to give non-German readers an overview of the development of industrial sociology in Germany as people on the 'inside' see it. It focuses on the current debate on future of industrial production work in Germany, and place the positions represented at ISF, Munich within this debate. Industrial sociology has become an important part of discipline of sociology in Germany in the post-war era. It has had both a considerable influence on sociology as a 'science' as well as some although seemingly limited effects on industrial practice and policy. Despite the turn-around towards empirical research and the development of complex method-mix that came about with the professionalization of the discipline, the current debate on the future of work can only be understood in the context of industrial sociology's high socio-theoretical and critical standards. Industrial sociological theory and research is mainly directed towards the issue of development of rationalization and dominance in the society, and the forces behind social change.
