This paper examined the paradoxical class situation of information specialists in the post-industrial society as both professionals and employees. We described and analyzed the 'technocratic' authority wielded by them and their mode of consciousness. We assessed whether these workers functioned...

This paper contrasts two approaches that qualitative researchers can adopt towards studying class and status divisions, drawing upon issues raised by Gordon Marshall in his (1988) paper about working class consciousness. It is suggested that researchers influenced by Marshall, and recent...