Chapter 12: Work and the Economy in real life

Industrial Society: A society characterized by the widespread use of machinery and technology in the
production of goods and services

Convergence Thesis: The idea that over time, differences between societies, particularly in terms of their
economic and social structures, will diminish as they adopt similar technological and organizational
systems

Division of Labor: The specialization of tasks and roles within a society or organization, where
individuals focus on specific tasks based on their skills and abilities

Specialization: The process of concentrating on a particular area of expertise or activity, often resulting
in increased efficiency and productivity

Organic Solidarity: A type of social cohesion based on the interdependence of individuals within a
complex and diverse society, where each person contributes to the functioning of the whole

Proletarianization: The process by which individuals become part of the proletariat, the working class,
typically through industrialization and the transformation of agrarian or artisanal economies

Class: A social group characterized by shared economic, cultural, or political attributes, often related to
their position within a society's social hierarchy

Reserve Army of Labor: A concept in Marxist theory referring to the pool of unemployed or
underemployed workers who are available for employment when needed by capitalists, helping to
regulate wages and maintain capitalist profits

Post-Industrialism: A societal stage characterized by a shift from manufacturing-based economies to

service-based economies, often accompanied by technological advancement and increased emphasis
on information and knowledge industries

Non-Standard Work Arrangements: Forms of employment that deviate from traditional full-time,
permanent positions, such as part-time work, temporary work, contract work, and freelance work

Pre-Industrial Societies and the Industrial Revolution

• Pre-industrial societies were primarily agricultural, with work inseparable from family and
personal life.
• Two major economic developments changed this: the agricultural revolution and the industrial
revolution.
• By the early 18th century, farmers would produce a surplus of food, allowing many to work
outside of food production.
• New factory systems created a surplus in manufacturing, leading to the emergence of the
capitalist production system and the modern city.
Industrial Society Overview

• Industrial society refers to a society where industrial production dominates and features are
standardized.
• This shift eliminates subsistence farming, shifts workers to large factories, and specialized jobs
and workers.
• Industrial societies are found in countries like Canada, China, Russia, and Argentina.
• Sociologists identify features of industrial societies, including a secular culture, a developed
state, and a class structure dominated by the urban middle class.
• The convergence thesis suggests that as societies industrialize, their social patterns converge
or become more similar.
• Gerhard Lenski's five-stage evolutionary theory of societal change defines five kinds of
societies based on their mode of production and level of subsistence.
• These societies are shaped by their level of technological development and the natural
environment.
• Various societal types exist in different environments, from hunting and gathering societies to
agricultural societies and industrial societies

Scientific Management Techniques and Social Solidarity

Invention of Scientific Management Techniques

• Scientific management, also known as Taylorism, was introduced in the early 20th century to
reorganize the workplace.
• It involved breaking down tasks into smaller, repetitive steps, leading to a specialized division
of labor.
• Specialization is inevitable in large organizations, reducing time and cost, benefiting consumers
and deskilling workers.

Emile Durkheim's View on Specialization

• Durkheim observed that excessive specialization could threaten social solidarity.
• He proposed the concept of "mechanical solidarity" in pre-industrial societies, where people
feel a sense of unity based on common experiences, feelings, values, and beliefs.

Rapid Social and Economic Change and Organic Solidarity

• Durkheim argued that industrial societies with greater division of labor and differences in
daily experiences needed a new social order, organic solidarity.
• Organic solidarity fosters a sense of interdependence with others, fostering a "live and let live"
philosophy.
• Durkheim attributed the growth in "moral density" to two factors associated with
industrialization: "social volume" and "material density."
Industrialization and the Growth of Professions

• Professions, characterized by specialized expertise and high control over decision-making, are
a key alternative to bureaucratic decision-making.
• Access to high-paying jobs in industrial societies requires a "credential," a degree that
indicates qualifications and prevents non-accredited individuals from performing the task.
• The future of professional organization may be the basis for most personal services, but some
professions may lose their high status, such as lawyers in large law firms, engineers in large
manufacturing companies, and managers in large merchandisers.

Bureaucracies and Industrialization

• Bureaucracies are large, complex organizations that employ specialized workers within a
legal-rational authority structure.
• Bureaucracies have historically favored the rise of bureaucracies due to their control over
large workforces.
• The growth of an organization often leads to bureaucratization.
• An informal structure develops below the formal structure, developed through communication
and trust among co-workers.

McDonaldization of Work
• The process of McDonaldization combines efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control.
• Neo-liberalism has aided in the globalization of manufacturing and undermined trade union
strength.
• Neo-liberal rationalities assume a greater burden on individual responsibility to avoid risk,
leading to increased workplace dangers to health and safety.

Class Inequalities and Industrialization

• Karl Marx's theory of capitalists and workers in capitalist industrial society explains the
binary social split between the "haves" and the "have-nots."
• The bourgeoisie's control over the proletariat is defined by their exploitative control over the
proletariat, who must sell their time and labor to the bourgeoisie.

Marx's Theory on Capitalism and Economic Turmoil

• Capitalism leads to cyclic economic crises, with high productivity periods causing
overproduction and price drops.
• Capitalists stop investing, causing economic slowdown and recession.
• Highs and lows result in periodic unemployment cycles.
• Workers lack flexibility due to wage dependency, gaining less in good markets and suffering
more in bad ones.
• Workers lack security and bargaining power due to lack of organization.
• Unemployment risk threatens workers demanding too much, leading to replacement by
unemployed, machines, or lower-wage workers.

Class Consciousness and Its Impact on Sociology

Class Concepts and Class Consciousness

• Class consciousness is the combination of class, work, and status situations.
• Class differences are hard to understand and are often hard to see and understand.

The Role of Automation in Class Consciousness

• Automation has led to the loss of prestige of skilled white-collar work due to
depersonalization, exploitation, and alienation.
• Automation also displaces workers through unemployment and allows employers to ramp up
their pursuit of profit.

The Role of Technology in Workforce Changes

• Technology has provided new means of surveillance and control over workers.
• Conflict theorists consider the changes brought by technology in the context of new means of
surveillance and control over workers.

Functionalist Sociology and Job Value

• Functional theorists focus on a "stratification system" of different people with different
occupational roles and income levels.
• Jobs at the top of the ladder require more investment in education and effort, carrying greater
rewards.
• The best-paid jobs are also the most socially useful and valued jobs.

Human Capital Theorists and Inequality

• Human capital theorists argue that money invested in people's well-being is money invested
in future economic growth.
• Inequality is beneficial for society as it brings out excellence and productivity.

Case Study: Women's Work in Canada

• Many Canadian women work for little or no pay, regardless of their class.
• Women perform three times more unpaid household labor than men, accounting for as much
as one-third of the world’s economic production.
• Capitalists profit from the hard work of women even more than they profit from the hard
work of men.
• Stereotypes persist of women as nurturing and emotional and men as more dominant and
rational, leading to women being recruited for caring roles and less encouraged to enter abstract
reasoning skills.
Symbolic Interactionists and Social Constructionists

• Symbolic interactionists study how meanings are attached to social inequality, such as the
construction of labels "wealthy" and "poor."
• Social constructionists examine how popular beliefs and demands for change led to the
current social situation.
• Richard Edwards' book "Contested Terrain" argues that management practices evolved from
simple control to bureaucratic control.
• Edwards responds to workers' attempts to stop managerial control, with new controls invented
and taught to new generations of managers.
• Social constructionists study the evolution of popular thinking about work, from the 1950s
and 1960s to the present, with globalization leading to job insecurity, job loss, and the impact of
bad work lives on family and health.

Post-Industrialism Evolution in Western Societies

• Transition from manufacturing-intensive to vices and information economy.
• Originated post-World War II or possibly earlier.
• Communication no longer has boundaries; geography, distance, and national borders no longer
exist.
• Technology and other factors have increased information, products, and people flow.
• Social philosopher H.G. Wells foresaw significant changes in the last century.

Role of Technology and Science in Global Workplace

• Technology is amoral and apolitical, with its use for good or bad depending on its owners and
regulators.
• Computerized technology has led to a shift in work, potentially making it less arduous, more
satisfying, and more humane.
• However, technology has also increased workplace inequality, as it has replaced people at the
bottom of the work hierarchy or rendered their skills redundant.
• The need for skill upgrading is limited to those with financial and educational means and
those in sectors that promote such changes.
• The replacement of humans by machines benefits owners and managers by removing human
error, manufacturing products with more uniformity and precision, running non-stop, and
reducing conflict between workers and bosses.
• Fear of technology leading to an unprecedented rise in unemployment has been justified, but
a better match between skills acquired and jobs required is needed.
• Communication technologies have altered post-industrial workplaces, leading to the
emergence of virtual work, where work duties are completed and performed away from the
traditional office through computer technology.
The Rise of Managers and Non-Capitalists in Canada

• Managers are a new class of people in control of capital, far from the bourgeoisie.
• The 2008 economic downturn was due to mismanagement by managers of the means of
production.
• Non-capitalists, such as doctors, civil servants, judges, and sociology professors, have
significant influence in Canadian society.
• These non-capitalists exercise authority without possessing or controlling wealth.
• The state plays a significant role in creating and reducing inequality in Canada.
• It regulates financial processes, sets tax rates, provides transfer payments, and sets rules and
legislation around power use.
• Neoliberalism, a trend towards a decrease in state intervention, assumes markets operate
independently to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
• This economic Darwinism assumes the greatest good comes from an uncontrolled marketplace.
• Income inequality has increased under neoliberalism, contributing to the 2008 Wall Street
collapse.

Neo-Liberal-Driven Globalization and Job Situation in Canada

• Neo-liberal-driven globalization has led to outsourcing, reduced wages, and increased

demand for non-standard work arrangements.
• Global cities, crucial financial hubs, have seen a rise in contingent and temporary work due to
the decline of manufacturing work.
• The expansion of commerce, tourism, and the financial sector has created a tiered economy,
requiring workers in food, hotel, and cleaning industries.
• The service sector has led to a rise in non-standard work, including part-time work, affecting
full-time workers.
• This has led to increased unemployment, underemployment, and inequality among workers,
with some working below their skill and training level.

"Precarious Work in Canada"

• Precarious work is unpredictable and uncontrollable, with 39.1% of Canadian women in such
jobs.
• Precarious jobs include part-time, self-employment, fixed-term, temporary, on-call,
homework, and telecommuting.
• A United Way report shows a decline in standard employment relationships, with men and
women nearly equally likely to hold precarious jobs.
• Non-standard jobs are increasing more rapidly for men than for women, especially for
racialized workers.
• Feminization in work refers to the increase of precarious work previously assigned only to
women, including part-time and high worker turnover jobs.

Class Politics and Identity Politics

• Class politics, a political competition representing different classes, is being replaced by

"identity politics."
• Concerns about racism, sexism, ageism, and religious discrimination are more prevalent than
economic inequality or class-based poverty.
• Ideologies appealing to specific sections of the working class or middle class, such as women,
visible minorities, gays and lesbians, or the elderly, often filter economic equality concerns.
• This shift highlights Weber's contribution to social theory, highlighting multiple power routes
and the strong influence of status groups on identities.

Unions' Role in Workforce Strengthening

• Negotiates wage settlements and sets working conditions standards.

• Advocates for job security and job security.
• Crucial for members, the working class, and the economy.
• Enables negotiation of socially structured work.
• Union members typically earn higher pay.
• Benefits include job security and extended healthcare plans.
• In 2015, unionized workers earned $5.28/hour more than non-union workers.