Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
SOCIOLOGY OF WORK
2018-2019
CONTENT
Lecture 1.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Lecture 2.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Lecture 3............................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Lecture 4............................................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Lecture 5............................................................................................................................................................................................ 26
Lecture 6............................................................................................................................................................................................ 34
Lecture 7............................................................................................................................................................................................ 41
Lecture 8............................................................................................................................................................................................ 47
Lecture 9............................................................................................................................................................................................ 57
Lecture 10......................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
Example questions........................................................................................................................................................................ 67
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,Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
LECTURE 1
W HY A SOCIOLOGY OF WORK ?
Work is involved in how people stay alive, because is it necessary in society. The (post)industrial
society is about work, it also contributes to our identity. The society is centered around work. Work
also involves interaction with people, that is where the sociology part also enters.
Here are some definitions of work:
- “Work has become synonymous with regular paid employment” (Edgell, 2012:1)
- “The carrying out of tasks which enable people to make a living within the social and
economic context in which they are located” (Watson, 2003:1)
- “All activities which bring economic gains for the one who is doing it, his direct surrounding,
or for society in general (Mok, 1990:1).
- “Any expenditure of effort aimed at producing a socially valued good or service” (Vallas,
2012:3).
So work is mostly about the society and how the individual provides services and adding value to it.
There are some definition problems, namely what exactly work means. There are historical
differences because work is not the same as in the past. There is also a difference between labor
and work, and work and non-work.
I DEAS ON WORK ETHIC
Work is always seen with ambivalence. Work is good from the hierarchy of Maslow because it
contributes to self-actualization through self-development. But, work is bad because it is a
necessary burden. People also make a distinction between good and bad jobs, so there is always
one group of people that have the better job. For example, slavery or the exploitation by the rich of
the poor.
Work orientation in general is divided in three parts:
- Instrumental means an orientation towards things, like money, security, or material
rewards
- Relational so an orientation towards other people, like friends, work mates, so social
satisfaction
- Personal namely an orientation towards oneself, like personal satisfaction and self-
development.
People often have the instrumental motivation, but the personal orientation has become more
important through the years.
Lockwood (1966) also made a typology of workers with these work orientations. Different workers
have different views on society. First there are the middle class employees who see the society as a
consensually graduated status hierarchy. Second are the deferential workers, who think the same
but place themselves lower in the hierarchy. Third is the traditional proletarian who see society as
a conflict driven class model. Last are the affluent or privatized workers, who see society as a
dissocialized structure divided on the basis of money.
A second typology was made by Goldthorpe et al. (1968), who made three types of work
orientations. First is the privatized worker, who sees work as a means to an end. Second is a
bureaucratic worker, who sees work as a service to an organization. Third and last is the solidaric
worker, who sees work as a group activity.
These attitudes are not stable because people change over time and so do their orientations. They
have different life phases, or getting children also changes the idea of the importance of work. Older
workers become fatalistic over time, because they also accept their limitations.
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,Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
W ORK VS LABOR
According to Hannah Arendt (1958), labor is the bodily activity designed to ensure survival in
which the results are consumed almost immediately. This gives it a more mandatory image. Work
is the activity undertaken with our hands which gives objectivity to the world, like building a bridge
or formulating a policy for a company.
Critique on this view: In the industrial society very little activity generates products for immediate
consumption, and in hunter gatherer societies very little activity generates material artefact that
give objectivity to the world.
W ORK VS OCCUPATION
R. Brown (1978) states: Work has been imputed with transformative capacity – an activity which
alters nature. An occupation is something that locates individuals in some sort of market, so
certain situations.
W ORK AND THE STATE
Economic value often prevails above political value, because society divides citizens in paid work,
or unemployed (and not a certain political attitude). This also means gender is an important factor,
because most empirical studies are based on male workers. The household tasks females often do
are not considered work, because it is not paid. This should be considered work, because there now
is a gender bias. This has been decreasing but it still exists.
Work can be divided into four categories. As said, there is a difference between paid and unpaid
work, and also between formal and informal work. Formal and paid work means an employment,
like in an organization or a student job. Paid work which is informal is undeclared work, basically
illegal work. People often do this to save money on taxes. Unpaid work which is informal is house
work (which should be paid). Finally, unpaid work which is formal is voluntary work, like playing in
a sports team or being in an association.
The quality of work is influenced by a lot of factors:
- Providing job security: This has been decreasing because jobs are more flexible now
- Job enrichment: A job has to stay interesting
- Career growth plans
- Open communication
- Increased employee participation
- Flexible work timings
- Rewards and recognition
We already talked about the difference between work and non-work. Leisure could be reading
books, but this can also be considered work (or mental work). The household tasks are not really
work, but have the same effect as actual work. The same goes for the care for children. Going to
work/commuting also feels like work, especially if there are problems on the way or it is very
crowded. Unemployment is never fun but also kind of work when people are actively searching and
taking interviews, or spending their time on something else. Retirement includes not having a job,
but spending time on other stuff. Last, education may not count as work, but is sure is work.
There is a discussion about the difference between work and play. For example, people are now
talking about including smartphones when working. 46% agree smartphones make it difficult to get
away from work at home or on the weekends, 51% agree smartphones provide a means to reduce
stress during a busy work day.
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, Stella Barenholz 2018-2019
C ENTRALITY OF WORK
There are big differences between countries about the importance and centrality of work. This
means the importance of work in somebody’s life, compared to other aspects of life. In Japan, work
is very important, it even is said that people ‘work themselves to death’. This is lower in the
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Britain. It is now also lower than it used to be, because of the
increase in flexibility.
Work centrality is influenced by societal norms, like entitlements and obligations. These are higher
in Japan than in our countries. Second are the work goals, namely the extrinsic and intrinsic
orientation. The centrality itself has an impact on the meaning of work in someone's life.
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