06 Work and Economic Life

Work

Definition

Any activity resulting in paid employment, direct (eg. contract) or indirect (eg. barter).

• expenditure of mental / phy efforts
• objective production
• distribution / consumption of goods & services
• not just money, but obligation too
  • eg. domestic division of labour $\to$ obligations not necessarily monetary

Flexible Production & Decentralization of Work

• extraordinary events like WWII, Covid-19
• globalization $⟹$ competition b/w firms, countries
• internet, e-commerce, virtual workspaces
• Robert Blauner: use of tech $\propto$ alienation

Division of work in different societies

• reflects normative structure of society
  • power relations, social mobility, alienation
• Marx: dichotomy of haves & have nots in both modern & traditional

Modern	Traditional
secular, technical	prescriptive, normative
universalism, achievement, affective neutrality	particularism, affectivity, diffuseness
large scale	smaller groups
high alienation	low alienation

• modern industrialized societies $\to$
  • presence of cohesive nation state
    • req. to support existence of big enterprises
    • facilitate wide commerce
    • legal system, stability
  • educational framework
    • cultural/religious, value driven education ❌
    • scientific, objective education ✅
    • mass based
  • geographically mobile family
    • $⟹$ nuclearization
    • family reduced to a unit of consumption

Primitive Societies

• natural events like sunshine, rain, flood influenced social organization of work
• forces of production at lowest level
• material density low
• family self sufficient unit of production & consumption
• hunting & gathering
• low Division of Labour
• low productivity due to poor specialization
• religion dominated economic life
• low alienation
  • workers enjoyed fruits of labour

Feudal Agrarian Societies

• agri major economic activity
• advanced DoL
• 3 estates
  • nobility
  • clergy
  • serfs
• economic surplus, but not too much
• markets emerging
• low social mobility
  • ascriptive
• low alienation, significant autonomy in work

Capitalist Industrial Societies

copy paste in exam

Instead of being controlled by nature, man tried to control nature.

• rise in production, surplus, trade of commodities, handicrafts
• usage of mechanical instruments
• family lost primary position in production
• mode of production $\to$ mass production of goods in factories
• DoL complex ($\uparrow$ specialization)
• more importance to capital, less to labour
• Marx: earlier goods had use value; now they have exchange value
• production based on competition, not cooperation
  • community based production destroyed by factory system
• high alienation
  • workers lose control over produce
  • monotony of work
• high surplus as production market oriented (not self consumption)
• money economy replaces barter system
  • even labour is commoditized
• high mobility
• clear work life separation
• high innovation
• high individual freedom for creativity
• laws not repressive
• religion no longer influences economic activities

Harry Braverman

Work in capitalist orgs is exploitative & alienating and workers are coerced into servitude in a factory system.

• James Burnham (The Managerial Revolution 1948): growth in no. of professional managers who controlled companies they didn’t own
• Weber (PESC): work also depends on cultural values
• Japan after Meiji Restoration showed how political systems affect social organization of work
• Geography also dictates social organization of work eg. India

Social Determinants of Economic Development

• factors like
  • education system
  • religious beliefs
  • social stratification
    • caste
    • class
  • personal values
    • asceticism
    • hard work
  • demographic composition & dependency ratio
  • scientific advancement
  • penetration of money economy
  • level of urbanization
  • secularization of society
• eg in India, despite sufficient material resources, social resources were not conducive for economic growth
  • caste system rendered society fragmented
  • religions promoted worldly asceticism
  • joint family system did not focus on liberal values
• Weber (PESC)

Industrialization and Social Change

Definition: Industrialization

Shift from animate (human, animal) to inanimate (coal, electricity etc) sources of power for purpose of production.

• rise of factory system
• DoL: ascriptive $\to$ achievement based
  • scientific DoL
  • Jajmani system broke
  • occupation no longer linked to caste
• high DoL
  • $⟹$ high stratification
  • more social mobility
• land no longer dominant source of power
  • industry & trade new sources
• new forms of social conflict
  • trade unions
  • lock outs
  • labour mobilization
• demand for more skilled labour
• prosperous, more disposable income with individuals

But the downsides 😟

• promotes mechanical DoL
  • focus has shifted from human needs to production processes/profits
• ignorance of social, env factors
• large MNC overshadow even the elected govt
• 4th IR: AI, IoT etc

Formal and Informal Organization of Work

Amitai Etzioni

Our society is an organizational society.

• Organizations: social units w/ specific objectives and goals to achieve

Formal Organization

• worker governed by formal rules, regulations at workplace
• defined by contract or legislations, statutes
• rationally designed
• explicit objectives & explicitly defined means
• better control over work, accountability
• prevention of exploitation of workers
  • duties, rights, liabilities are well defined
  • balances interests of employer & employee
  • protective laws
    • Minimum Wages Act 1948
    • Factories Act 1948
    • Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013

Meyer & Rowan

Formal rules and practices are often distant from practices actually adopted by the members of the organization.

• formal rules are like myths
• people profess to follow
• but use them as means of approving what they have actually already done

Informal Organization

• work#ers governed by employer’s directions, not fixed rules
• India: 90% workforce
• ILO: 62% globally
• casual labour, voluntary org, contract labour, child labour, domestic labour
• social contracts $\to$ rules implied; not stated
• may be part of larger formal struct
  • cleaning staff at an MNC
  • personal preferences in decision making
• develop on basis of personal linkages, rapport
• workers prone to exploitation
• low social security

The Hawthorne Studies

1920s, Elton Mayo. Work satisfaction & performance is not a function of formal rules and working conditions alone. The informal culture of groups & org also play big role.

Informal Sector

• term coined by Keith Hart
  • low skills, easy entry, low paid employment, immigrant labour
• ILO: consisting of units engaged in production of g&s w/ primary obj of generating employment & income to persons concerned and this sector encompasses range of vulnerabilities & deficits in decent work

Labour and Society

• lacks choice
• sold in market
• Marx: process in which both man & nature participate and in which man of his own accord starts, regulates and controls the material reactions between himself and nature
  • objectification of purpose
  • labour in capitalism is not owned by workers
• Burawoy: workers consent to work hard in capitalist system (so Marx wrong)
• Harry Braverman: Fordism, automation $\to$ deskilling
  • labour lost control over skills due to specialized production
  • $\therefore$ more dependent on capitalist system
• Ann Oakley: Industrialization led to confinement of women at home.
• Weber: one who labours well, society rewards him accordingly
  • criticism: unequal access to opportunities, self perpetuating tendencies of upper class
• Lenin: specialization creates strata, remove it
• CW Mills: white collar workers carrying artificial smile, leading artificial life

Other themes

• Gig Economy
• Cancel Culture
• The Great Resignation