The nature of work has been assumed to be indefinable by social theorists for centuries, due to the ever-changing organisation of work, and its' increasing power in the relationship between an individual and their society. The actual concept of work can be defined by Giddens as the "carrying out of tasks, involving the expenditure of mental and physical effort, which have as their objective the production of goods and services catering for human needs" - therefore, it does not solely involve occupational work, which is work completed in exchange for a wage. This also implies that other essential forms of work, such as housework and voluntary work do not receive due credit, and as seen as unequal next to an occupation. The changing nature of work, especially in the United Kingdom, is evident in the process of industrialisation – specifically the Industrial Revolution during the nineteenth century which saw a huge increase in standard of living as more moved to the cities for occupational work, and the creation of an “urban culture”. A second revolution occurred as automation increasingly occurs, as well as a change from manual into the service industry as other countries become more competitive in the field – this change has meant a huge increase in unemployment for people who previously been prospering in a country where manual labour like mining and manufacturing were the main industries. One of the first sociological theories was developed by Emile Durkheim, and is known as Functionalism. The consensus structural theory looks at society using the organic analogy, explaining society as being dependent on a healthy relationship between social structures - for example, the institution of work and education are interdependent as if... ... middle of paper ... ... and the quantity of capital has become how individuals define success, rather than the quality of it. Ritzer defined four main dimensions of his concept - the first being effiency, wherein the optimum time for completion is set, denying any sense of autonomy. Calculability is the second dimension, the confirmation that the target is calculated according to quantity over quality. Predictability, including the insurance that the same process can be reproduced with the same outcome - denying any specialisation for workers, reducing them to cogs in a machine which can be replaced with relative ease. The fourth dimension is control, mainly concerning the reduction of human labour in exchange for technological labour - deskilling the work force almost completely, for example people who used to make the hamburgers, would now oversee the machine which makes the hamburgers.
Structural Functionalism is the sociology theory that emphasizes how everything and everyone has a purpose in society. That each and every one of us is a puzzle piece that comes together in order to form a society, any missing puzzle piece would result in the downfall or shortcomings of the whole society. Whether this may be religion, education, economy, etc, all of these structures much work together in order to have a flourishing society where everyone works uniformly. Stability is achieved when everyone fulfills their duty is society.
Industrial capitalism transformed greatly in a century; however work continued to decline with the advancement of time. Therefore, work was better in 1750 then it was in 1850. " The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself" (134.).
Sociology is the study of society and the interactions that occur within society itself. There are numerous methods of analyzing societies and the way the function, nonetheless, most methods fall in micro and macro level theories. Micro level theories allow sociologist to study smaller relationships such as individual or compact groups of people. On the other hand, macro level studies permit for larger scale investigations to take place. With both of these theories there are three theoretical perspectives used in sociology. Micro level theories include symbolic interactionism which focuses in interactions done with language and gestures and the means which allow such interactions to take place. Macro level theories include structural functionalism
Functionalism perspective will be the first sociological theory reviewed. Functiolism is one of the earliest sociological perspectives Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) who was German developed ideas for the first time relating to functionalism.
In her book “The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries” Kathi Weeks (2011) argues that today we work too hard and that work is quite important that is a requirement to survive. Work has become a privatized system and ultimately is a way of life (p.3). She also claims that the idea that a subject must work to become a worker it is more related to discipline than it is to economic. Humans become social and political subjects within work. Thus, work has become a key site of becoming classed (p.8). Gender identities are also created and reinforced through work.
Adding to earlier strain theories from theorist like the French Emile Durkheim, who is considered one of the fathers of sociology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philoso...
Also, as industrialization increases, so does drudge and toil. The worker becomes, in the eyes of the bourgeois in control, a part of the machine and as expendable and as easily replaced as any part of the machine. This is in the form of prolonged work hours, amount of work done in a certain time, or by the increase of the speed of the machinery, which wears down and drains the workers. Modern industry has replaced the privately owned workshop with the corporate factory. Laborers file into factories like soldiers.
Watson, T. (2008) The Meaning of Work. The Sociology of Work and Industry. London: Routledge.
The idea of a “social structure” is probably one of the most popular and influential concepts in the world of sociology, with social theorists from Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and Parsons, all base their work off the fundamental idea that there is a large societal structure which pl...
In the book Outliers, and in the articles, “Meaningful Work”, “Do, Just, Do: A Journey to Meaningful, Satisfying work”, and “ You Wont Find Meaningful work Looking Outside Yourself”, The authors Malcolm Gladwell, Michael F. Steger, Lori Deschene, and Keven wood describe what the joy of meaningful is to them.Life is what you make of it and it’s and up to you to decide what you will get out of it. Some people may work eight hour shifts Monday through Friday miserable, exhausted, depressed, unhappy, and under a lot of pressure and stress from their jobs. Others may do the same, similar, or different jobs being comfortable, happy with life, and pleased with their job position. Your job should be one of the most important things to you because you are there on average forty hours a week and most of your time is spent there. It should be important that you enjoy what you do because it is practically your second home. Meaningful work is a job you enjoy doing, are compassionate about, never tired of, and do for the fulfillment of yourself , it is important to success because if one enjoys what they do opportunities in their career path will only expand.
Sociologists view functionalism as both a macro and a micro perspective. From a macro perspective, functionalism promotes the ideal that everyone and everything has a particular place within society, which in turn influences the structure of society. A macro example of Functionalism is seen by sociologists through the interactions of a national school system. Primary school prepares children for the possibility of a higher education that will prepare them for a job, instilling the order and ideals of society within youths so that they understand its expectations. Afterward, they head off to secondary school to apply what they have learned and choose a profession that will best benefit them and society. This promotes the large-scale organization
Structural Functionalism or what I call just functionalism, is just another theory that has society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This approach looks at society through the macro-level of orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole, and believes that society has evolved like organisms. This approach looks at both social structure and the social functions. Functionalism has society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms and customs, traditions, and institutions. There is a common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer that presents these parts of society as "organs" that works towards the proper functioning of the "body" as a whole. In the most basic terms, it simply emphasizes "the effort to impute and the rigorously as possible, to each feature, custom, or even practice the effect on the functioning of a supposedly stable and cohesive system.
The structural-functionalist perspective looks at society as a complex system composed of various parts much like a living organism. Each aspect of society contributes to society's functioning as a whole. Social institutions play a key role in keeping a society stable. All societies need certain things to survive (Newman 2010).
Both ideas which had been differently well developed by Comte and Saint-Simon. Durkheim's holism approach said that sociology should focus on and study large social operations and cultures. He used functionalism, an approach of studying social and cultural phenomena as a set of interdependent parts, to find out the roles these institutions and processes play in keeping social order. Because of this importance in large social processes and institutions, Durkheim's sociology can be described as macro-sociological as compared to a micro-sociological, which takes it's starting point at the individual. Durkheim's main purpose was to give sociology a professional and scientific standing like other traditional social sciences. In order to do this, Durkheim argued that it was essential to clearly state the domain or area of study for sociology. He said that sociology's concern was with the social. This section of the social should be separated from the area of psychological and the individual.
We see many of fields of society for example; government, educational, cultural and many more. Sociology is importantly the basis for almost all policies and idea which shape the world we are in. For example; Harriet Martineau, first female sociologists brought attention to ignored topics such as marriage, children, domestic and religious life and race relations. Without this idea being brought it up it would have always been an issue from society. Solving topics are so beneficial to making our society a better place. On a personal level it’s really changed my vision in the world. This enables us to understand paradigms. Structural functionalism was inspired partly by Durkheim, he stated that society is defined as a social system, with structures organized in an orderly way to form an organic, stable whole. This system enables us to understand and meet the circumstances in order to