Detailed notes, including lecture notes, reading list book summaries and essay plans for the Oxford University FHS Organisational Behaviour & Analysis course's section on Work (Week 3 of the course).
What is work?
What are the key factors that have shaped the definitions of work over time?
‘The only way to understand the meaning of work is to consider what it means to be out of
work’. Discuss.
What is the difference between work and employment?
Introduction
Applebaum (1992): work is like the spine which structures the way people live, how they
make contact with material and social reality and how they achieve status and self-
esteem.
o No human society can exist without work, suggesting the need for work for
societal survival.
State defines workers as individuals who are economically active.
o Employment marks the conventional western boundary between work and non-
work.
o Beck (2000)- in western society, work is seen as the only valid measure for the
evaluation of human beings and their activities
o Grint (1988) argues that the fact that people are recognised as unemployed
instead of ‘graduates’ or ‘mothers’ shows the importance allocated to formal
employment as a distinguishing category of social life by the state.
Suggests that all other activities are not classified as work. Work is
something we have to do and get paid for.
BUT what about the basic activities of eating and drinking, as well as domestic labour
which you are not employed for?
o Grint (1988): we cannot distinguish between work and non-work because it is too
subjective. What counts as work cannot be severed from the context within
which it exists because it is dependent on the specific social circumstances under
which the activity is undertaken.
There is no permanent objective thing called work, only aspects of social activities which
we construe as work based on current temporal, spatial and cultural conditions.
P1: Meaning of work based on ideology
Durkheim: Division of labour leads to mutual dependence which offers social cohesion
Marx: looked at objectification vs alienation in an employment relationship
o The objective of production is profit but the producer has no control over the
product so the division of labour leads to fragmentation of the production
process which turns work into a set of meaningless tasks
Does not provide an alternative only criticises
Weber: looks at the role of protestant ethic in the rise of capitalism
o Puritanism and Richard Baxter gave religious sanction to the pursuit of profit.
where material success should be pursued with all possible vigour
Acquisition of money as an end in itself
The more you work, the more you pay your way to heaven
o Luther and Calvin established a modern work ethic with the removal of
admonition to be successful in commercial enterprise
, Stresses how ideological and religious beliefs lead to different perceptions of what work
is. Notwithstanding, all of these definitions of work refer to work in terms of
employment.
P1: History of what was considered ‘work’ in different cultures
The way the concept of work has been perceived has changed over time.
Homeric Society: heroes and gods of the time were associated with work
o Nobles working with their hands, such as Odysseus and his Plowing Challenge.
Respect for farming due to it being the agriculture basis of wealth, as shown by
the praise given to Roman farmer warrior Cincinatus
o Workers, like tombstone makers, gained self-pride and self-worth from their
work.
BUT Ancient Greek Polis, freedom was defined as freedom from work.
o Anyone who worked was unfree and not a member of society.
o Society was the antithesis to work- the arts of public exchange, leisure, and
politics.
o Work was a drudgery and those who worked were less noble.
Middle Ages- work was essential for survival against bad weather, creating mutual
obligations between community members.
o Work and the society became intimately related
Barley & Kunda (2001)- changing organisational structure changes work.
o Weber, Durkheim & Marx: the 19th century shift from agricultural and craft work
to factory and office lead to the development of work as being bureaucratic.
NOW: Applebaum (1992)- work is used to determine status and influence in society, self-
respect, as well as social prestige.
o Most people work for wages, with profit & losses replacing the religious
principles of community and family.
o Work is a means to an end: free time is enjoyed by those who can afford it
because of their work.
o Working and leisure are intimately connected.
o Unlike the ancient times, freedom is freedom to work.
Doctors are an example of changing meaning of work: used to do everything now they
specialise
This brief history of how work perception has changed during the course of humanity
reinforces the central idea that work cannot be separated from its context, it is a socially
constructed entity that is influenced by the time it is in as different eras have been
influenced by different technological advances, religious claims and class divisions.
P2: The Social Context of Work of the Individual
The social context of work goes beyond the technological advances, class, religious,
gender changes discussed in the previous paragraph to also include the individual
performing the activity.
The individuals’ self-conception, identity and motivation.
o Certain individuals see work as the means by which we earn a livelihood. For
example, a worker with a family is more focused on extrinsic rewards.
o Others see work as the ability to achieve social status and become an active
member of society
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