Katya Muscat

Group Task

2009-03-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

How did work change society after the Industrial Revolution?

By reading Chapter 2 of Grint’s book The Sociology of Work (2005) regarding the history of work, Chris, Antonella, Clarisse and I noticed certain features of change in society after the Industrial Revolution.

In the Pre-Industrial Society the only method of earning a living was through agriculture. Families used to live in villages working at cottage industry. In Britain, their property consisted of their home as well as their agricultural land. Thus, work was done within reach of home and had no specific time or rituals when they start their work. All members of the family participated in work for their financial necessities. Therefore the work of this Agrarian Society depended on all elements such as the seasons. The number of children within the family also had a large impact on the production. In such a patriarchal society, men dominated the family’s economical system. It was a common issue that when the husband died only the first male offspring inherited major possessions and even the dominant role.

“In the second half of the eighteenth century, and the beginnings of Industrial Revolution proper, the occupational structure alters quite markedly: manufacturing, or rather textile manufacturing, mushrooms in size, with the numbers of men engaged tripling in fifty years, while the number of weavers doubles. Relatedly, building, mining, the professions and the armed forces all expand rapidly, while the numbers of unskilled rose only marginally and agricultural employment drops to the point where, very approximately, just over a third of the population were engaged in agriculture in some form by the beginning of the nineteenth century.”

Grint, 2005; 57

As proved by this quotation, there were radical changes by this revolution. This was surely reflected in society especially regarding the world of work.

During the Industrial Period, capitalists invested in their land by building factories where they installed machinery to change raw materials into products sold to the consumer market. The problem was that machines needed to be handled by man. Therefore man had to abandon his village life and family for a number of hours a day to work in a factory. Stevenson denotes how the industrial revolution has also brought about the decline of the family as a collective work unit (Grint, 2005). Distance prohibited families to settle in small house creating industrial towns.

However, we must note that in Pre-Industrial Society “As Mathias notes, it was not just economic need which maintained the family-based industry but also ‘the cohension of family employment [and]… the values of a whole way of life’.” (Grint, 2005; 56)

Such changes brought by this revolution affected people in several ways. In Pre-Industrial Society people depended on agriculture, so they were more environmental friendly. On the other hand, after this transition people became detached from natural environment living in urban areas that by time started to get polluted because of factories. As a consequence this lead to a lot of health problems.

This type of work in the industrial area used to create alienation, exploitation and individualism. Women were not on equal terms as males. Women’s job was not considered as valuable because the men perceived it as a role. In fact, when trade unions were created, even though they were supposed to stand up for all workers, women were discriminated from this right. The actual aim of trade unionism was “to bring about a condition…where wives and daughters would be in their proper sphere at home, instead of being dragged into competition for livelihood against the great and strong men of the world” (Grint, 2005;72). Even though they tried to protect women from being abused of employers like for example over working and under paying them for all the hard work, only men were considered as workers.To sum it up the history of work was always focused on men. Several changes occurred both in society and its environment due to the advent of the industrial revolution.

WORK PICTURES

2009-03-25T11:08:00.001-07:00

WORK

For some workers, the work week consists of Monday through Friday or Saturday. The weekend is there for leisure (roller caster). When Monday comes, the worker feels wary(Garfield)

Employment Policy

According to the MEP, the working week in the EU should continue to be limited to a maximum of 48 hours.

Advantage: limit the exploitation of the workers
Disadvantage: limit the individual’s ability to work extra hours

If you are interested to know more, click on this link
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/048-41709-315-11-46-908-20081107STO41558-2008-10-11-2008/default_en.ht

Consequences of Work

DISCRIMINATION (but not the type of discrimination that the women is talking about in the picture) and SEXUAL HARASSMENT ("all the other women are suing you for sexual harassment)

SLAVERY and CHILD TRAFFICKING

Employer and Employee

The power of the employer, equals the power of all the employees. This shows how much power the 'boss' have in his/HER hands. Thus as shown in the second picture, the employer sometimes ask the impossible from the employee (Can you do more work then is humanly possible?)

Work and Life

I found this picture interesting because it shows THE EVOLUTION OF WORK LIFE:

1900: Work

1950: Work-life separation

1970: Work spills into life

1980: Work- life balance

2000: Life spills into work

2010: Work-life blending

2050: Life :)

Poems in relation to the World Of Work

2009-03-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

This is the Critical evaluation of five poems about work in relation to Grint's first chapter: "What is work?"

Analyzing five poems relating to the world of work we were provided with five different pictures of how these five poets perceive the world of work with all it components and its impact on society.Grint with his writing tackles such ideas and find new solutions to these issues so that we could make the much needed move forward which we would help us to perceive the world of work not from such a pessimistic point of view. In the first chapter of his book Grint uses his views, as well as different perspectives of various sociologists, to discuss some interesting points on the world of work. We can probably conclude that Grint detests capitalism and its results. In fact he uses the views of Marx, Morris and others to make us aware that capitalism can result in ruining one’s social life.

“The Chimney-Sweeper’s Complaint is a poem by Mary Alcock. In eight stanzas, Alcock perfectly describes how a life of a labourer can be ruined and put down. The issue discussed is the issue of the employer versus the unskilled worker: a worker who is so “helpless” and “wretched” that his life is like a life of a slave. Grint discusses the problem of slaves. He describes the situation by claiming that “the more A gains, the more B loses”. In this poem the unskilled labourer calls his employer master. He is portrayed just like an object. He has no dignity. The rich master does not even bother about the situation of his servant. Although the servant has “burnt and bruis’d” legs and although he feels his limbs feeble, his master does not care and commands the boy to keep on working. This reflects the quotation that Grint uses in his first chapter. A quotation that Billy Bennett once sang:

“it’s the rich what gets the pleasure,
It’s the poor what gets the blame.”

In Praise of Idleness Russell claims that

“A great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of WORK…the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work”

It is not the case that one has to necessarily think that no work constitutes virtuousness but it is ultimately true that some work can be very frustrating and painful. This goes hand in hand with Alcock’s poem. In the case of the chimney sweeper portrayed in the poem, if his work was diminished or at least he was given dignity he would at least be happier. I chose to finish this analysis of this poem by using a quotation by Morris which I found in Grint’s first chapter. It really struck me and I think that it is very much true for certain jobs. Taking a quick look around our world of work, one cannot but agree with such statement:

“it is the nature of man (sic)…to take pleasure in his work (but) there is some labour which is so far from being a blessing that it is a curse; that it would be better for the community and for the worker if the latter were to fold his hands and refuse to work” (1983:35)

The other poem we discussed is “Work” by D.H. Lawrence. It is a very strong poem. Lawrence emphasizes that work must be something which is fun and absorbing. He feels so strong about this claim that he tells the reader “don’t do it” if it is “never any fun” and it “doesn’t absorb you”. He argues that work must create new and living beings just like trees in spring. Work must bring you to a natural state and must give you identity as well as dignity. Just like nature, work can be a recreation of each and every person. Lawrence seems to detest this period in life where we depend almost completely on machines. Just like “The Chimney-Sweeper’s complaint”, this poem can be discussed in relation to Grint’s chapter “What is work?”.

Thomas Carlyle, who was a Scottish satirical writer, described work as ‘natural’ as long as it showed “the spiritual side of human nature.” Lawrence in his poem also emphasizes this point. According to the poet, work must give man satisfaction and he must feel as though he is living, not working. He seems to tell the reader that work is just like food: necessary for one’s survival and for one to be complete, he must work. The poet carries it a little bit too far and in fact it contrasts with Alcock’s poem and with Larkin’s one: “Toad”. It contrasts also with the view of many of us about work. Fortunately or unfortunately work is not considered to be self-fulfilling and necessary by most of the people. Hegel believed that work should create a room for development of the social and individual development.

Contrary to what D.H. Lawrence thinks, Gorz believed that self realization does not occur in work as we normally refer to but “it is rather associated with/hobbies or leisure activities.”
Whilst on one hand it is true that machines have created a more easily-lived life, it is also true that people are becoming “slaves to, not controllers of, machines” just like Morris claimed. In fact in the last two stanzas one can literally feel the anger of the poet when he claims that we must “smash the machines” and that we must “cancel the machines we have got.” It is true that we have reached an age where we are almost depending completely on these machines we have created. This reminds me of the song “Welcome to the machine” by the nineties group Pink Floyd.

I think that keeping these poems in mind each and every one of us must work thoroughly to improve our world of work. I don’t really believe that work is “actually a necessary evil” just like Adam Smith claimed but when thinking about the situation one cannot notice that in the world of work there is surely a whole great room for improvement. “You will be hearing from us shortly” is a poem on how the women especially those who were married and with children found it very difficult to find a place in the world of work. This is very clear in that which Grint calls The Patriarchal model where women can take important positions of authority only in extreme cases. Apart from this Grint also criticizes the way the hours of work leave little space for the man to take up his responsibility as a father. Also such work practices make it very difficult for the woman to do two things at once that is work and be capable of giving the necessary attention to the children and the family’s household. In fact this is why the employers tend to think twice before giving a woman an authoritative or privileged position. As employers might think that she will not be able to cope with her household children and work. This is very clearly portrayed in the poem in lines:

“Married, children,
We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all”.

The solution to all this according to Grint is flexible hours and the provision of crèches on the place of work. Apart from this Grint also adds that according to the information revealed by Dex (1988:38-9) half of the woman who were unemployed were told by their husbands that they should be staying at home. I believe that it is as clear as daylight that males have always been regarded as the stronger sex and therefore predominantly the Bread winner. Another problem that leads to gender in-equality as portrayed by the poetess U.A.Fanthorpe in the poem “You will be Hearing from us Shortly” is also as a result of the fact that most husbands do not help in that which regards household work. Grint proves this in his writing even though Dex research showed how man with children participated more in housework in order to accommodate their wives or partners work practices. Although a number of people might think we have made reasonable progress in that which regards gender equality I believe that there is still a lot of work that has to be done both on the employer’s behalf. This is so that family women would not be considered as those who can never be given the chance of a career Apart from this more women should be given more incentives to consider taking up a career. Obviously males should also be much more highly educated on that which regards housework and how it should not be considered a degrading job which should only be done woman.

Basil Banting also presents us with another poem that relates to the world of work: "What the chairman told tom?" Banting's poem creates many questions such as: Can work be seen as something that ensures the survival of the individual and society as such? Many activities regarded as work may not be seen as essential or necessary for the survival (Haralombus and Holborn, 2004). According to Grint “We cannot distinguish between work and non-work”. For example for some individuals taking photographs is an occupation not a leisure pursuit. We see this clearly in Banting's poem “What the Chairman told Tom” (1965). Poetry is considered as a ‘work of art’ but the speaker of the poem considers art as something that is non valuable since “my ten year old son can do it”. Every individual has his or her own viewpoints so we do not see the same activities (Grint, 2005). For example if I consider art as work, other persons, might disagree with my opinion. According to Grint, ‘work is opposite of leisure: it is something we have to do, something we may prefer not to do and something we tend to get paid for (Grint, 2005; 10). “Leisure is the time left over after other obligations have been attended to” (Horolomus and Holborn, 2004; 674). But why do always consider work as something being boring and as something we might prefer not to do? In Grint’s (2005) book we see also that there are some workers who actually like the work they do, and by doing so they have the ability to like it and in the mean time earn something for their living. “By this the individuals could by their way into self realization” (Grint, 2005; 21)

Keith Grint (2005) claims that ‘no ambiguous or objective definition of work is possible’. Is work something which the individual might prefer not to do, but he is constrained to do it in order to survive? As a matter of fact, after reading this poem, we ended up with the perspective that work is like some kind of punishment since people work not to socialize or to feel useful in their lives, but for the necessities. According to Marx,

“The products of labour are… no longer means of fulfilling the needs of the individual and the community. From an end in themselves, they become a means to an end: a means for acquiring the goods and services necessary for survival”.
(Horolombus and Holborn, 2004; 621)

Larkin (1995) in his poem "Toads", says that we need to accept this, because we can’t fight against it “can’t I use my wit as pitchfork…?” According to Larkin (1955), since the individual works about “six days of the week” just to meet the basic needs, the individual ruins his life by this constant working. Work, according to the speaker leaves no room for fun. Marx developed the idea of alienation where people are unable to find satisfaction and fulfillment in the work they produce (Horolombus and Holborn, 2004). Larkin (1995) can think of intelligence as a possibility of escape. Can he use this intelligence of his, to find a better way to survive? By this, the speaker wonders if any other way of life is possible for him. The poet is torn between two alternatives, work and wit. The latter constitutes of a life where people avoid work completely.
The speaker of the poem has a dilemma of work and the need to work versus freedom and the need to live with no obligations. In this poem we see that although some people live in poverty and can be even homeless, at the end of the day these people move on in life and no one actually starves. They are able to survive on very few things such as ‘fire in bucket”. Although it’s a hard life, they tend to cope with it and at the end of the day they end up better than those who work. But Larkin (1995) thinks that this does not suit him “perhaps it is in his nature to work six days a week.
Thinking about work’s advantages vs. disadvantages, in this poem, there seems to be more disadvantages than advantages. So sometimes it’s better to retrain from working. But on the other hand, although those who live in poverty might survive, they must feel useless. In fact in his book Keith Grint (2005) argues that the enforced ‘leisure’ of unemployment turns the freedom of non-work into a nightmare of perceived worthlessness. Apart from that, these people lack social contact with other people. Although one of the advantages that unemployment carries with it is the increase in leisure time “Kevin et al. found that leisure was not an adequate substitute for work because most of the leisure…failed to compensate for the loss of social contacts at work” (Horolombus and Holborn, 2004, 671). Work in itself may not be the means to self-realization, nor the means to achieve sufficient wealth to compensate for what may be experienced as the alienating consequences of work, but the effects of unemployment are a clear indication that work is a central social institution and essential part of most people’s lives.
(Grint, 2005 ; 42)

Although these five poems are made up by different poets who lived in different times and in different social backgrounds they all boil down to the same points. An example of this is the theme of injustice which is very clearly shown in poems like “the chimney sweeper’s complaint” and “you will be hearing from us shortly” were both the protagonists are being discriminated because of their lack of power and of status it was difficult for them to voice their ideas. Another poem which can be very well linked with the poem “The chimney sweeper’s complaint is “what the chairman told tom” where the two poets are describing both chimney sweeping and poetry as being degrading jobs having a very low status in society, In the other two poems “Toads” and “The praise of idleness on the other hand the two poets speak about how work is not perceived by humans as something from which one can derive pleasure and satisfaction but is only a means for getting paid.