Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Work And The Workplace

2. The Importance of Work • Source of income • Source of pride and accomplishment • Source of identity and self esteem • Provides meaning to life and and is a major part of our adult identity

3. The Industrial Revolution • The first transformation at the beginning of the nineteenth century • Rural and small towns • Most were employed in the primary sector producing raw materials • Farming • Fishing • Forestry • Mining

4. The Industrial Revolution • The Industrial revolution shifted jobs from the primary sector of the economy to the secondary sector • Transforming raw goods into products • Automobiles • Sewing machines • Furniture

5. The Industrial Revolution • Impact of the industrial revolution • Shift to factory work • Shift of jobs from rural to urban • Immigrants and factory work • Industrialization and prosperity

6. The Information Revolution • The 1950 and the emergence of the tertiary sector • From factory to service work • Not all workers benefited from this shift • Invention of the microchip and the computer • White collar jobs

7. Deindustrialzation • Deindustrialization-decline of industrial production( after1950 ) • Plant closings • Decline in factory jobs • Job displacement • Decline in pay and benefits

8. Globalization • Globalization of the economy-expansion of economic activity around the world with little regard for national borders • Multinational corporations • Shifting jobs to low wage countries

9. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • The Dual Labor Market • Two separate labor markets • 1.Primary labor market-occupations that provide good pay and extensive benefits to workers

10. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • The Dual Labor Market • Primary labor market jobs tend to be • Challenging • Good pay and benefits • More secure • Room for advancement in one’s career

11. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • The Dual Labor Market • Examples of primary labor market job categories • Professionals • Managers and executives • Some high skilled jobs in factories

12. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • The Dual Labor Market • Two separate labor markets • 2. Secondary labor market-jobs • Boring and routine • Low pay and few benefits • Less secure

13. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • The Dual Labor Market • Examples of secondary labor market job categories • Retail sales • Telemarketing • Building maintenance • Laborers

14. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • Dangers to workers • In 1970 the federal government established OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health • Conducts research on workplace hazards

15. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • Dangers to workers • Toxic Substances control Act (1976) • Guidelines for handling chemicals in the workplace • Test for harmful chemicals

16. Problems of the U.S. Workplace • Dangers to workers • Jobs and injuries • Jobs that have the highest risk of death • Mining • Agriculture • Construction • Jobs and health • Job related violence

17. Workplace Alienation • Alienation: Marx’s View • Alienation-experience of isolation and misery from powerlessness in the workplace • Marx • Work a natural act • Alienation stems from the social nature of work under capitalism • Capitalism distorts the social nature of work

18. Workplace Alienation • Alienation: Weber’s View • Alienation-depersonalization of the workplace and of society in general due to modern society’s rational focus on efficiency • Weber the cause of alienation is the rational nature of the organization of work • Individuals have become detached from the social and creative aspect of work • Work has become highly impersonal

19. Workplace Alienation • Alienation: Weber’s View • Rationalization of society led to the industrial revolution • Rational modes of action replaced tradition and custom

20. MacDonaldization and the Rise of “McJobs” • George Ritzer and MacDonaldization • MacDonaldization- defining work in four principles • 1.Efficiency • 2.Predictability • 3.Uniformity • 4.Controlling workers through automation

21. MacDonaldization and the Rise of “McJobs” • Characteristics of the McJobs (Jobs) • 1.Work that involves simple tasks • 2.Work that provides little satisfaction • 3.Work that is predicable and repetitive • 4.Work that has become machine driven • 5.Work that is dehumanizing to the worker • Workers become automatons

22. The “Temping”of the Workplace • Deindustrialization and the growth in part-time workers • Low pay • No benefits • Little control over their work

23. Unemployment • Reasons for Unemployment • About four to five percent unemployment may be normal • New to the work force entering for the first time • In between jobs • Economic downturn

24. Who is at Risk for Unemployment? • Less educated • Racial and ethnic minorities • Young

25. Race, Ethnicity, and Gender • Just entered into better jobs • Las hired first fired • Institutional discrimination – bias built into the operation of the economy, education and other social institutions • Secondary labor market • Under representation of women and minorities in higher education

26. Race, Ethnicity, and Gender • The Glass Ceiling- barriers ( often invisible) that prevent minorities from moving up in an organization

27. Workplace Segregation • Workplace is segregated by race and gender • Minorities concentrated in the least desirable jobs • Labor Unions • Labor unions-worker organizations that seek to improve wages and working conditions through various strategies, including collective bargaining and strikes

28. Labor Unions • Labor unions are a recent development • U.S. Government and the labor movement of the 1930’s • Railway Labor Act • Norris-La Guardia Act • National Labor Relations Act

29. Labor Unions • Union membership grew from 1930 and peaked in the 1970’s • Since 1970’s decline in union membership until just recently • Function of structural change a shift from factory jobs to the non union service sector

30. Telecommuting • Telecommuting- linking employees to the office using information technology, including telephones,fax machines, and e-mail • Function of the information revolution • Telecommuting blurs the distinction between home and work • Telecommuting and gender discrimination and work • Worker isolation

31. Workplace Isolation • Computer technology reduces the need for face to face interaction • Workers are connect by information networks • Social and physical separation and isolation of workers and clients from one another

32. Controlling Employees • Computer technology and controlling the behavior of workers • Keeping an eye on the employee • “Deskilling” Work • Technology and the loss of skills necessary to perform one’s job • Machines replace human skill

33. Structural-Functional Analysis: Finding a New Equilibrium • Structural- functional paradigm-interrelatedness of social institutions • Impact of technology on established social patterns • How information technology is shaping the nature of work and other social institutions

34. Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: The Meaning of Work • Symbolic –Interaction paradigm- the social construction of work • Meanings that people attach to work and work relationships

35. Social-Conflict Analysis: Work and Inequality • Social-conflict – focus is on how inequality impacts work in society • How work reflects the interest of the upper-class

36. Conservatives: The Virtues of the Market • Free-market with a minimum of government regulation • Downturns are temporary and people will be allocated to where the jobs are • Individuals should take responsibility for their economic and job well-being

37. Liberals: The Need for Government • Free- market with government regulation to insure all interests are taken care of • Government aid for education and job training

38. Radicals: The Need for Fundamental Change • The free-market is the source of economic and worker related problems • The end of capitalism and the emergence of socialism as the answer to economic and worker related woes