Technology has been a key determining factor in the studies of work organization and alienation. Robert Blauner (1964) had classified four different types of technology:

1. Craft– printing technology

2. Machine- minding – textile

3. Assembly-line – automobile

4. Automation – oil and chemical industries

Blauner suggested that while alienation is low in craft industries, it reaches a peak in assembly-line technology as in the automobile industry, and declines again with automation. This approach has been criticized as technological determinism.