Chapter 4

Structuring of Work: Basic Principles

If we look for patterns in the work people do in modern times, we can observe two basic principles
which structure these activities of people:

The organizational principle of work structuring

*Emphasizes the structuring of work on bureaucratic, administrative or formal organization basis

In other words, the focus is on the ways in which work tasks are designed by managers (agents) who
employ, pay, co-ordinate and control the effort.

o Occupational principle of work structuring

⚫This is structuring of work on the basis of the type of work that people do.

Emphasis is on the patterns which emerge when we concentrate on how the specific work tasks are
done; specific types of operation, example, driving lorry, cleaning a house, running business, catching
fish, etc.

It also focuses on the social implications existing among groups of people regularly doing similar tasks.

Occupation: Definition
Occupation involves engagement on a regular basis in a part or the whole of a range of work tasks which
are identified under a particular heading or tittle by both those carrying out these tasks and by a wider
public.

. Occupation is wider than paid employment; it may imply

o Total independence from employer- freelancer writer

o Absence of direct financial reward from the work- unsuccessful poet, a student. In this case the
individual is supported by others.

Locating People in a Society: Occupational or Organizational?

Traditionally people were located in society by their occupation as tailor, soldier, sailor, etc.

But with the growth of bureaucratized work organization locating people on the basis of occupation has
become less relevant. In modern times people are located in the society in relation to the organization
they are employed. Thus, it is not uncommon to say

"I don't know what he exactly does, but it is something with the council."

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"She does something in office."

It is some kind of factory job.

o He works in the university, etc.

0 He works in the parliament

Locating people on occupation: Special Cases

There are two special cases in which people's location in society tends to concentrated on occupational
principle:

When the tasks have peculiar distinctive features

Publically visible: police officer, teacher or actor

Somewhat peculiar or deviant: prostitute, undertaker, criminal, pickpocket, etc

o When the members of the occupation themselves control their tasks as how the jobs should
appropriately be undertaken-highly skilled workers or professionals.

Occupational Structure

Occupational structure is the pattern in society which is created by distribution of the labour force
across a range of existing type of work or occupation

There are two aspects of occupational structure:

o Horizontal occupational structured: here two occupational structures have been identified:
the traditional economists' occupational structure and the sociologists' occupational situs

Traditional economists' occupational structure divides the work force into Agriculture and extractive
industries (primary sector)

Manufacturing (secondary sector)

Service sector (tertiary sector)

o Sociologists occupational situs takes into account various criteria other than or in addition to status or
reward yielding capacity of occupations; the particular criteria used may vary according to the purpose
of research undertaken. This implies that the sociologists' occupational situs could come up with
different occupational groupings. One of sociologists' occupational situs based on economic functioning
is the following

Distribution

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Manufacturing

Finance and insurance

Agriculture

Building, and transport and communication

Civil service

Church, military, government

Education

Medicine and health.

o However, the concept occupational situs is far less used as tool of analysis because in

reality individual's occupation is a key indicator of their social class and social status.

o Vertical Occupational Structure: this is locating occupations in class structure according to where
people fit into the social system of employment relationship;

Here occupational groups are located in hierarchy by relating to the quality of

employment:

Working condition

Prospect for future advancement

Degree of security and employment, etc

Over all the classification of occupational structure horizontally, vertically or a mixture of both is
important to understand social structure and process of change occurring in the society at large.

Such classification enables us

o Determine number of people in a certain sector or social economic groups

o Understand the mobility of people between different categories

o Understand the characteristics of people in various positions in terms of age, gender, age, ethnic or
racial groups.

Social Class and Occupations: Classical Explanations

Karl Marx

⚫ in his explanation Marx was against contemporary revenue theories of class

O Revenue theories maintained that the relationship of individuals to the marke determines their source
and level of income and the symbolic rewards too. Marke relationship, therefore, is criterion for class
construction.

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For Marx, this argument implies that the market was pre-existing, natural and therefore neutral feature
of society.

Marx argues that the market is not a pre-existing and not a neutral feature of society.
For him the market was constructed upon the pre-existing relationships of ownership and non-
ownership of the means of production. The market has no impact on the class structure rather the
market was generated by a particular class structure.

⚫ Accordingly, Marx analysed social class in relation to the ownership of capital and means of
production.

He divided population into

Owners of property

0 The property less who worked for owners.

In this division the type of job an individual does is not central.

⚫ Marx recognized the existence of small property owners (shopkeepers, artisans, small holders), but
they were considered as leftovers who will gradually disappear as the capitalist system matured.

⚫ Marx predicted three processes regarding social class trends which are usually called the three P's:

Proletarianization: the process by which the middle class effectively absorbed into working class; the
middle class move downward in position like that of the working class.

o Pauperization this means impoverishment: Marx believed that due to exploitation and degradation,
the worker would absolutely impoverished while the capitalist become richer and richer.
Polarization: This is the result of the above two processes. It means the separation of society into two
extremely opposite polar groups in terms of politics, ideology, and economy.

How Marx Prediction are true?

The capitalist system has proved flexible, dynamic and unpredictable than Marx

expected it has been argued that the three P's failed to materialize:

Rather than shrinking or disappearing, the middle class increased enormously The traditional working
class declined in size.

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The living condition of the working class improved relatively rather than becoming poorer and poorer.

A new managerial but property less class emerged.

There are two arguments in relation to the new managerial class:

Managers are agents of capital because

. They serve owners of capital

They are similar to capitalist class- life style, education, interest

Managers are separate class because

•They face strict control like manual workers

They face problem of insecurity

They may have different interest than that of capitalists

Max Weber

Mark's stratification of people in a society is based on the ownership of the means of production. An
individual class position in a society is determined by whether he owns property or not.

Weber accepts Marx' position that property ownership is a determining factor of individual's class
position.

But Weber claims social stratification involves status and party in addition to class. It means that a
person who holds one class position within a society on the base of property ownership may hold
different position in terms of social variables such as ethnicity or religious background.

Basis of Weber's class stratification:

o One has first see what is meant by life chances.

Life chance is the ability to gain access to scarce and valued goods and services such as

home, food and education.

For Weber class arises when a number of people share similar life chances in the market.

People's ability to gain access to these benefits drives from 'amount and kind or lack of such dispose of
goods and skills for the sake of income in a given economic order.

• On the base of this Weber identified the following classes:

• Property class: owners of means of production, Marx's bourgeois class.

o Intellectual, administrative and managerial class

Petty bourgeoisies class (clerical and shop keepers)

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The working class

According to this classification, the following groups who have no relationship to the market are not part
of it:

O Slaves

Individuals with domestic duties

The long-term unemployed

Relationship between Class and Status

Status is aspect of social inequality where by different positions are awarded different degrees of
prestige or honour and social esteem.

Weber sees that class and status are related in the following two ways:

Class and status position an individual holds coincide because class provides material means for
provision of status symbol; thus the individual who holds high class position holds high status and the
opposite is also true.

o Class and status position an individual hold do not coincide because status is determined by such
factor as inheritance, occupation, prestige, ethnic or religious background.

• Lessons Learned:

o Social stratification cannot be simply based only on class (property ownership); it is also based on
status and/or party.

Social groups can have similar ideology not only because they hold similar position in terms of economic
status. They can have similar ideology on the base of their similarit in status and privilege.

Therefore, Weber claims, proletarian revolutions, predicted by Marx, are unlikely.

Dual Labour Market/Labour Market Segmentation

Question to be answered: What is the relationship between occupational structure and lab market?

Dualism is the effective division of an economy into two parts:

o Prosperous and stable core sector of enterprises and jobs

o Peripheral' sector which is relatively and systematically disadvantaged

. Corporatism is a political system in which major decisions, especially with regards to economy, are
made by state in close association with employer, trade union, and other pressure groups or
organizations.

Corporatism deals economic problems in inclusionary way because economic interest groups participate
in forming and implementing economic policy.

• Dualism works on exclusionary lines to counterbalance the increased power of organized groups

o. By creating group of workers (potential workers) who lack effective organization

By expanding workers having no effective organization.

•Such groups of workers emerge through

• Migrant labour -which serve as 'industrial reserve' for employers who can employ them flexibly.

o Sub-contracting of job-in which workers are employed temporarily and part time jobs.

In modern society the labour market is segmented into primary labour market and secondary

labour market,
o Primary labour market- in this part of the market employment is standard; it is characterized by

Higher wage and better working condition

N Career structure, advancement, and chance of training

Stable and secure employment

Regular pay, pension, sick pay benefits.

o Secondary labour market- in this part of the market employment is non-standard; it is characterized by

• Low wage and bad working conditions

Absence of career structure, training

Job insecurity; work is part time, temporary, multiple jobs

Irregular pay, absence of pension or sick benefit.

Important Sociological Issues in Dual Labour Market

• Special social groups particularly ethnic minorities, migrants and women are employe secondary
labour market

In contrast advantaged groups are employed in primary labour market

Employment in secondary market is justified by normative judgements-exaggerated view about those
employed-such as women and ethnic minorities are unstable and unreliable to hold the jobs.

Employment in primary labour market discriminate the disadvantaged groups by such means which are
not related to technical appropriateness of the job:

o Attitude and manner

o Appearance

Work history

Marital status

Language style

The likelihood of fitting the organization.