Robert Goldman
Albany 207
Office Hours: Tu 1:30-4:00 and by appointment
This course has been constructed to permit the examination of work,
leisure and consumption as social and cultural relationships as well
as economic ones. The central premise of the sociology of work --
once known as "industrial sociology" -- is that production relations
comprise basic institutional forces that influence almost all other
parts of people's lives. This is especially so in an economy where
labor is organized through markets -- those not engaged in paid labor
in such societies are either unemployed or perform non-paid labor
(historically, a role performed primarily by women). Notice, how each
of these latter categories immediately conjure up moral connotations
as well. In modern market-based societies labor is not just a
material imperative, it has also been one of our most idealized
activities. The work ethic has long been one of the prized cultural
possessions of the middle classes. Until the twentieth century,
work's opposite -- leisure -- was deemed sinful by some, a luxury by
others. The social and cultural changes that have occurred in the
twentieth century with respect to work, leisure and consumption have
been vast. How did the mechanization and bureaucratization of work
change the experience and meaning of work? What made leisure and
consumption activities more attractive and acceptable to people?
But just as scholars were proclaiming the US a post-industrial
leisure society in the 1970s, the tides turned again and leisure time
began to decline for many people. A massive process known as
"deindustrialization," began in the mid 1970s and resulted in the
loss of the hallmark heavy industrial jobs such as steel production
and machine building, and triggered the erosion of relatively
high-skill and thus, high-paying, jobs. At the same time, the
aggregate economic importance of consumption has continued to expand.
In fact, many areas that have been hard hit by the loss of industrial
firms and skilled jobs have tried to replace these jobs with
tourist-based economies. Think also of how many cities there are
where shopping malls and gallerias now dominate the urban landscape.
Today, this process now known as "corporate downsizing," continues,
as "lean and mean" corporations continuously reshape themselves to
compete in world markets. But now it is getting difficult to annually
coax sufficient Christmas purchases from consumers who are making
less money as workers.
What will the relationship be between our work identities and our
consumer identities as we enter an age that some have labeled as
"postmodern"? How will the emerging computer technologies transform
the social relations of work? Will telecommuting become widespread,
literally changing the spatial arrangements of our cities? Some
suggest these new technologies have the capacity to do away with the
authoritarian and controlling relationships that have dominated
workplaces for at least the past two centuries. Others point out that
these new technologies are already being using to more closely
monitor employees' work behaviors. How will the changing organization
of workplaces in conjunction with new technologies alter income
inequalities? In addition to asking where we are in historical terms,
we will undertake a historical perspective to inquire how we arrived
at where we are.
Any syllabus makes choices, and hence must also leave out some major
issues and relationships. Among those important areas not included in
this syllabus are the critical importance of labor migration or the
computerized monitoring of work activity or the relationship between
work life and family life. I trust that we will be able to raise some
of these issues anyhow and weave them into our journey.
We will begin with Barbara Garson's accessible narrative about the
meaning and experience of people's worklives. We will then discuss
what "work" has meant in our culture -- both as an idealized work
ethic and as an alienating experience. Juliet Schor's overview of the
shifting balance between work and non-work activities over the last
century and a half gets us looking at a wide range of issues
including the seemingly paradoxical relationship between labor saving
devices for the home and the increasing time spent on household labor
by women.
Next we look at Harry Braverman's pathbreaking analysis of the
division of labor and his thesis concerning the twin processes of
"the degradation of labor" and the "deskilling" of work in the
twentieth century. In brief, Braverman's thesis is that new
technologies have generally been organized so as to regulate control
over the work site as well as control over wages. There is a vast
literature on the everyday "politics" of the workplace and Braverman
gets us looking at those questions. For those who are interested
there are quite a number of articles that examine the Braverman
hypothesis by looking at specific occupations.
C. Wright Mills writing at mid-century described the transformation
to a white-collar labor force. Robert Reich, the current Secretary of
Labor, writes about the next stage of occupational development which
he calls the "rise of the symbolic analyst." The flip side of what
Reich describes is documented by Maria Fernandez-Kelly in her study
of how the new international division of labor depends more and more
on low-wage female labor forces in maquiladora work. Again it is
crucial to recognize that the ways in which work is organized and
experienced vary dramatically by class, race and gender.
The section on leisure and consumption begins by looking at our
cultural history concerning the meanings of consumption. Beginning
early in the 20th century, the reorganization of worklife along with
dramatic growth in material production, brought about a revolution in
leisure and consumption. As many authors have observed, there took
place a shift from the work-based notion of 'character' to the
leisure consumption notions of 'personality' and 'style.' Readings by
Schor and Glassner bring us to current work/leisure arrangements and
the kinds of selves they give rise to. We will then dive into some
rather detailed examinations of contemporary leisure and consumption
in the essays of Susan Willis. One major theme of this section
concerns questions about how we construct identities through
consumption in the contemporary era.
The section on commodity chains is intended to get us thinking about
the many linkages today between the realm of production and the realm
of consumption. For example, we will look at Benetton and Nike in
this regard. Among other things, Donald Katz's book on Nike reminds
us about how production of consumer-goods items is now often
orchestrated from half a world away in the new global economy. Susan
Willis reminds us in her essay on "Playing house" that it isn't just
work relations that influence play, sometimes work relations are
replicated through play activities.
The final section focuses on mall culture, a much neglected part of
contemporary social life. The mall has emerged as a primary space for
organizing consumption. Closely related to the mall as a completely
organized site for consumption and leisure is the theme park. It thus
seems appropriate to take up here questions concerning tourism and
the construction of vast theme parks such as Disney World.
Required Books:
Barbara Garson. All the Livelong Day: The Meaning & Demeaning of Routine Work. Revised edition. 1994. Penguin Books.
Work Relations
Leisure and Consumption
Commodity Chains -- linking consumption with production
Mall Culture and the Society of the Spectacle
Readings that are not in the required books will be available on
reserve in Watzek Library.
Class attendance. A basic obligation of being in a class is
attending that class. Attendance is required. If you have been in
class every time then it can only work in your favor when it comes
time you evaluate your work! No grade points towards the final grade
are gained from attendance; however, absences will count against the
final grade. Here is how it works. Attendance will be taken each
class day. Over the course of the term, four absences will be
permitted. On the fifth absence however, the student will be docked
one letter grade off their final course grade. And so on, for every
additional absence off comes a half grade.
Your intellectual participation in this class is essential. That
means both thought and action. Ultimately that is what I will have to
evaluate you on. Grading has a heavy subjective element to it. After
all, the grader is interpreting the action that s/he is witnessing
and assigning a hierarchically ordered value to it, an A or B or C or
F. Yeah, we usually justify this by saying that these matters make
themselves known objectively. And truly, in some cases, it is real
easy to assess the "facts" with confidence. For example, a student
who misses eight classes, who bothers to write on Pacerforum only
five times over the semester, whose papers are sloppy and filled with
spelling errors and grammatical errors, well, s/he will probably
fail. This evaluation and reward aspect bears a striking similarity
to the way in which work is judged and rewarded. All of this gives me
considerable power over our "work place." But unlike the typical
workplace we will try to maintain a self-reflective attitude about
this aspect of our work lives.
A significant part of the course grade depends upon participation.
Students will be asked to form groups of four or five in number. Each
group will then have their own electronic bulletin board on
Pacerforum. Groups will be assigned in advance to help take
responsibility for assisting in leading class discussions of the
materials we have read, and most importantly, for formulating
questions that might guide our discussions. These questions should be
posted on our Pacerforum bulletin boards. Every one is responsible
for responding to these questions on Pacerforum. The Pacerforum
setting will enable considerable cross-dialogue on these questions.
[Instructions on Pacerforum will be provided separately.]
From the questions posted on Pacerforum concerning the reading
materials I will assemble a midterm exam that will be in-class.
Pacerforum and classroom participation and your performance on the
questions will be weighted as 50% of your total course grade.
Projects: These will be weighted as 50% of the total course grade.
Three projects are required. The only one that is mandatory is #4.
You may select two out of three from the other options presented
here. Six to eight pages. Due dates are week 5, 10, and 15.
1) Research how a technological change has altered the social
conditions and relations of work in either a particular industry or
in particular kinds of job.
2) Select a recent labor-management conflict ( a strike or a lockout)
and research the root sources of the conflict as well as changes that
occurred as a result.
3) Examine a leisure consumption site such as a mall, a bowling
alley, the dog track, church bingo nights, a college basketball game,
garage sales, etc. and observe the variations in occupational, age,
race and gender relations that come together in these activities and
sites.
4) Start with an object of consumption -- for example, a ball point
pen, a shoe, an automobile, a computer, a skirt, a piece of luggage,
etc. -- and then research the chain of production relations and
distribution relations associated with that object before it reached
you the consumer. You may also want to trace out the
'post-consumption' relationships linked to the commodity object.
Remember that most commodities have an "afterlife." This latter
assignment may be done as a multi-media presentation. We'll talk.