Technological Change in London’s Commercial Printing Trades, 1980–1992

Abstract

This paper adds to the discussion of how technological change occurred in London’s commercial printing businesses between 1980–1992 (‘Commercial’ being a term implying that firms were neither private presses, nor newspaper producers.). It shows how a decentralised trade restructured and underwent a major industrial shift in order to survive a technologically and politically turbulent decade. It argues firstly that print production de-industrialised and emerged as a ‘service’, as the result of social networks within the industry breaking down and reorganising and secondly that the impact of digital technologies on practices in the workplace was a slow and complex process. In doing so, it complements familiar narratives of newspaper production, which focus upon a more ‘sudden’ transformation within a centralised trade.

Changes in training, tracked with oral history work, provides a focus for understanding. Object-based and archival document research is also used, including an examination of annual reports (a chief undertaking by London printers), as well as trade literature. Together, such sources give a view from a variety of responses to industrial transformation. They also demonstrate how a multi-disciplinary approach that combines social networks and material culture can generate alternative insights into both industrial transformation and also into researching the digital as a political occurrence (This paper is a part of a larger research project entitled ‘Open Shop: a Reassessment of London’s Printing Trades, 1980–1992’.).