Stories and Maps: Postmodernism and Professional Communication

Symbolic-analytic workers identify and solve problems; in Robert Reich's (1991) words, they are "strategic brokering" people. In some ways, symbolic analysts are similar to routine production workers because they typically compete on an international level for positions; because so much of the work of symbolic analysts takes place in computer-mediated communication, they are more likely able to telecommute. But in most other ways symbolic analysts differ from the other job classifications in terms of status, responsibilty, mobility, and pay. Because they are often highly recruited, they are more able to move from place to place because of their higher disposable incomes and because companies will often pay moving expenses for their services. In essence, symbolic analysts act out the movement away from history (where an employee often worked in the same location and position as their parent and even grandparent) to power over global information spaces.