Zusammenfassung (übersetzt):
This article examines the interrelation between corporate strategies, employment changes and workers' experiences in the German shipbuilding industry in the light of economic crisis. From the middle of the 1970s onwards, due to global economic crisis and global competition this originally large-scale industry evolved into a medium-sized high-technology sector. Against this backdrop, the study reveals different management strategies of shipyards in the northwest of Germany and how these implicated employment structures and working conditions. Based on oral history interviews with shop floor workers and engineers in the construction offices, individuals' narrations show diverse experiences of work degradation and subjective implications on different workers' roles, positions and realities.