GS 336: Work and Society

Lecture 2

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 1. Introduction to Work

Outline/Objectives:
• What is Sociology?
• Industrial Sociology: Work and Society
• What is work?
• Work and Related Concepts
• Work and labor
• Work: Job, occupation and career
• Work and non-work

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SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is the scientific study of society. It is a
social science, established as a subject in the late
18th century through the work of a French
philosopher Auguste Comte.

 According to Morris Ginsberg (The Study of

Society, 1939), Sociology is “the web of
human interactions and relationships.”

 According to George Ritzer (Sociology, 1979),

“Sociology is the study of individuals in a
social setting that includes groups,
organisations, cultures and societies.
Sociologists study the interrelationships
between individuals, organisations, cultures
and societies.”
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To sum up, sociology is the study of the social
world. It involves studying human beings and their
patterns of behavior. In order to do this, we focus
on the way people form relationships and how
these relationships, considered in their totality, are
represented by the concept of a “society”.

…What is Sociology?
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Industrial Sociology: Work and Society

Industrial Sociology studies the interrelationships between

the people at the workplace and how much such
relationships affect the economic and production activities
in the community and how such relationships are affected
by other social factors. (Helen Gardner)
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What is Work?
Any activity involving mental /physical effort
to achieve a result. Work occupies a substantial
proportion of most of people’s lives and has
often been taken as a symbol of personal value:
work provides status, economic reward and a
means of demonstration and realization of self-
potential.
 “An activity undertaken in a social situation
that transforms nature.” (Keith Grint, The
Sociology of Work, 2012)
 “The activity undertaken with our hands
which gives objectivity to the world.” (H.
Arendt, The Human Condition, 1958)

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Why do we Work?...

 Work for survival

 We cannot survive without work, we need to fulfill our basic
needs; e.g., food, water, shelter, to further our generation,
etc., and it is through our capacity to work (a human capacity)
we meet our needs.
 Work and life has significant relation. So we work to live or
we live to work…matrix

 Work is a contribution to society

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…Why do we Work?...
 Work balances life
We need to have a balance between work and life. We are
not machines, rather we are social beings and have got
families, friends and other aspects of life.

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…Why do we Work?
 Work is related to social identity and the occupational
structure of society: doctors, engineers, businessmen,
agriculture, trade, etc.

 Work provides basis for social status and roles:

respected and non-respected occupations, salary ranks,
etc.

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Work: Some confusing and overlapping concepts…

Labor vs. Work…

 In Arendt’s (1958) view, Labor is bodily (creative and

mental) activity designed to ensure survival in which
the results are consumed almost immediately, while
Work is the activity undertaken with our hands which
gives objectivity to the world.

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…Work: Some confusing and overlapping concepts…

Labor vs. Work…

 Lewis Hyde discusses the difference between labor and

work. He says:
• Writing a poem, raising a child, developing a new calculus,
resolving a neurosis, invention in all forms--these are
labors. Work is an intended activity that is accomplished
through the will.
• Labor sets its own pace, is usually accompanied by
idleness, leisure, even sleep.
• Labor is something dictated by the course of life, rather
than by society, something that is often urgent, but that
nevertheless has its own interior rhythm, something more
bound up with feeling, more interior than work.

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Work: Some confusing and overlapping concepts

Labor vs. Work

A fundamental problem we face in doing anything that is

original or creative is understanding which part is work and
which is labor. Unfortunately, we live in a world that has
separated the two and expects us to be able to engage in our
labors as though they were work. And all too often, we adopt to
this notion.

One major difference between work and labor is that all labor
may not be work but every work involves labor (either physical
or mental). However, this depends upon the context and is not
a straightforward distinction.

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 Work: Job, Occupation and Career
Job, occupation, and career are often used interchangeably to describe the
work a person performs; however, they actually mean different things:

A job refers to the specific position in which a person is employed. (e.g. Chief of
Surgery, framing carpenter at WeBuild construction company, lab assistant at
DrugCo Pharmaceuticals).

An occupation is a wide category of jobs that have similar characteristics, such
as types of skills or work responsibilities. A person can work at his or her
occupation for different employers. (e.g. doctor, carpenter, biotechnologist).

 A career is the body of work—all jobs and occupations—and life experiences

that a person experiences during his or her lifetime.

'Occupation' is your career. 'Job' is what you actually do in your career. ('Real
Estate Agent' is an occupation. 'Selling houses' is the job.)

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Which of the following represent Job, Occupation and a Career?

• Teacher _____
• 8th grade teacher at KFUPM School _____
• Apprentice plumber _____
• Electrician _____
• Retail buyer for a toy store _____
• Technician at Saudi Airlines _____
• Farmer _____
• Engineer _____
• Salesperson _____
• Mechanic for a tractor dealership _____

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 Work and Non-Work: Employment and Unemployment

Employment Paid work/labour

Economically active: Formalities-----paying taxes and insurances, etc. (Working).

Economically inactive: (Unemployed)----Not Working (non-Work)

What about?
• Domestic Work
• Care work
• Slavery
• Voluntary work
• Leisure Are all these non-work then?
• Spiritual fulfilment

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SUMMARY
Work, then, in its physical features and its linguistic descriptions is socially
constructed. This implies that there is no permanent or objective thing called
work; there are actually aspects of social activities which we construct as
work and this embodies social organization. The difference between work
and non-work seldom lies within the actual activity itself and more generally
exists in the social context that support the activity. By implication, therefore,
what counts work cannot be separated from the context within which it exists,
and that context necessarily changes through space and time.

 Social Construction is a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is

'constructed' through cultural or social practice.

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Homework Assignment

What are the major social circumstances

that shape up our ideas in distinguishing
between work and non-work?

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 Thanks!

Any Question?

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