Orthodox Sociological Understandings of Work, Employment and Professions
There is a wealth of sociological literature concerned with
understanding work, employment and the professions but until recently
there has been little concern with women and work. For many years,
sociologists concentrated on the work of white males and on paid
employment. But since the Second World War there has been a gradual
increase of women entering the labour market thus creating an interest
in the work carried out by women. There has also been a great feminist
interest in the sociology of work, employment and the professions and
this has both challenged and increased traditional understandings of
work.
Classical approaches to work almost ignore gender in their
explanations or at least view it as being irrelevant. Marx saw women’s
exploitation as a product of capitalism although this was true of all
workers under capitalist society. Durkheim held the belief that women
were not capable of fully participating in the labour market as they
were physically and emotionally too different to men; men were
rational and women were not. Weber was a supporter of women’s civil
and social rights but despite this, his work still maintained gendered
assumptions relating to the division of labour. So it is clear that
classical approaches to the sociology of work looked only at men and
their experience of work.
Traditional sociological class analysis assessed a woman’s class
position in accordance with that of her male partner. As men were seen
as the head of the household, their income and status would be higher
than that of their female partner and so it is thei...
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labour market. They have also expanded the sociological study of work
to include unpaid and domestic work.
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Bibliography
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