history of the office

[bricolage]

there's a bit on wikipedia but does anyone know anything good that has a history of the office and its development as a place of work?
cheers.

[hatzel]

Well it was a UK series from a few years back which was subsequently remade by the Americans, but I never really got into it. Americans should leave our shows alone, really. I know that Gervais flirted with socialistic ideas at university, but I think it would be slightly far-fetched to claim that the series had left-wing intent. It certainly contained latent criticism of the office environment, and perhaps played to office-workers' resentment for the office and - more importantly - their bosses and managers in establishing its popular appeal. Perhaps Gervais intended for the series to attack this form of work through satire and the open derision of workplace 'superiors,' as a form of release, so that office-workers could laugh directly at somebody they would not be able to mock openly in their everyday existence...

(Yes I understand that the question was something else, but the answer retains relevance)

[bricolage]

urgh, I should have known...
for what it's worth I thought the american one was alright if you took it for something different to a straight clone of the uk one (which it stopped being after the first series).

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Uk office > Us office.
Anyday.