Work and the Workplace

1
Chapter 12

• Work and the Workplace

2
Structural Changes in the Economy

• By 1800 - Industrial Revolution began changing
  the nature of work, moving people from primary
  sector jobs (produce raw materials) to secondary
  sector jobs (turn raw materials into finished
  products).
• After 1950 Information Revolution caused
  deindustrialization and move to service jobs,
  tertiary sector of the economy.

3
Deindustrialization

• Deindustrialization resulted in the closing of
  many industrial factories. Many people whose
  factory jobs disappeared ended up with service
  jobs offering lower pay and fewer benefits.
• Primary labor market vs. Secondary labor market

4
Global Economy

• Global economy is linked to deindustrialization
  in the United States.
• Many U.S. corporations moved manufacturing plants
  abroad, where they could pay lower wages
  (outsourcing).

5
Alienation

• Alienation
• (Marx) powerlessness in the workplace resulting
  in the experience of isolation and misery
• (Weber) a rational focus on efficiency and
  bureaucracy, which causes depersonalization in
  the workplace

6
Urbanization

• The concentration of humanity into cities
• Gemeinschaft type of social organization by
  which people are bound closely together by
  kinship and tradition
• Gesellschaft type of social organization by
  which people have weak social ties and
  considerable self-interest

7
McDonalization

• McDonalization defines work in terms of four
  principles
• Efficiency
• Predictability
• Uniformity
• Automation

8
Temp Work

• About 25 of the U.S. labor force lack job
  security and have few benefits. Temporary
  workers, contract employees, and part-timers
  experience this problem in the workplace.

9
Unemployment and Union Decline

• Unemployment 8 million or 5.1 of the labor
  force in 2005
• Union decline Today, roughly 13 of U.S.
  workers are union members. Labor unions are
  worker organizations that seek to improve wages
  and working conditions.

10
Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

• Institutional Prejudice and Discrimination
  workplace segregation and limitation of
  minorities and women.
• Concentration to lower-paying work
• Glass-ceiling

11
New Information Technology

• Computers and other new information technology
  are redefining work in the United States.
• Isolate workers
• Deskilling many jobs

12
Theoretical Analysis

• Structural-Functional
• Changes can disrupt established patterns of work
  and/or unemployment
• Social-Conflict
• Marxist analysis on capitalism
• Webers analysis of workplace highlights
  bureaucracy (impersonality, hierarchy)
• Symbolic-Interaction
• Primary, secondary, and tertiary sector labor