SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND
EMPLOYMENT
Christophe Vanroel 2021-2022
Elisa Breyne
, SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND EMPLOYMENT
Contents
Reading assignment ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
Module 1- Introduction: The 3 arenas of the world of work ............................................................................................ 2
Module 2- Job quality in the contemporary workplace.................................................................................................. 14
Module 3- the story of industrialization and de-industrialisation .................................................................................. 30
Movie .............................................................................................................................................................................. 42
Guest lecture- Gender equality, the case of Academia – Evie Rangelova ...................................................................... 44
Module 4: Technology and changing work and employment conditions....................................................................... 51
Module 5- New models of work organization for a new economy ................................................................................ 65
Module 6: Transformation of employment relations and labour markets .................................................................... 76
Guest lecture: Work and employment in the platform economy -Brodersen ............................................................... 89
Module 7- A progressive agenda for the future of work? .............................................................................................. 97
• In-depth sociological analysis of work and employment in the epoch of ‘advanced capitalism’ (1990-2020):
Period of wide neoliberalism →interesting to see how that neoliberalism has an effect on employment
o Work-centered approach: “job quality”
o OECD/EU-focus
Reading assignment
Critical reflection with the guiding questions but you don’t have per se to follow these guidance questions
1- Making critical reflection
2- Participate on the discussion
Guiding questions will be used in the exam! Answers will be discussed in the discussion
1
,Module 1- Introduction: The 3 arenas of the world of work
1. What is work/labour/employment?
2. 3 arena’s: description of the conceptual space
3. Sociological traditions and the sociology of work
I- Conceptions of work and employment
A) What is work?
Legal? Unlegal (no taxes no social security?) Paid? Unpaid? Self-employment? Manual? High value?
• Andre Gorz
“… every paid activity for the account of a third party” (is self-employed then in or out?)
• Tony J. Watson
“… the executions of tasks allowing people to make a living, given the social and economical context they
are living in”
• Vallas
”… any expenditure of human effort aimed at producing a socially valued good or service"
• Grint
“… every activity that transforms nature and is usually performed in a social environment”
Work and non-work
Paid: labour and non-paid: general
• Depends of historical, geographical and cultural context
o Dominance of work as ‘employment’
o Form of appearance and organisation
– Waged-labour, self-employment, non-standard work,
– Platform work (labour negotiation by legal apps), bogus self-employment (have to act like a waged
employee but have the status of self-employed)
– Informal organisation (historically and worldwide rather standard)
– ‘unfree’, forced, dependent, …
o How it is appreciated → Prestige and identity
Money is not enough anymore, have to make a difference with treatment you get at work
eg school teacher: before they were seen as intellectuals and now less
o What is considered as work and non-work;
– Status of domestic and household work (many EU countries have a subsidized domestic work scheme)
– Civil engagement, ‘political’ work
– ‘Time and place-independent work: don’t require employers answering work mails outside working h
– Processes of commodification
• Mirror of strong cultural frames (MeTM) and power relations (e.g. earnings in male/female occupations)
B) The value of work
• Is only (paid) labour valuable work?
→Adam Smith: labour = most important source of value in the economy
• 2 types of value:
2
, o Use value ≈ Social value → For whom?
o Exchange value ≈ Market value →so: “work” and “paid labour” (15euros for 1h of work)
→no capitalist entrepreneur would hire someone by knowing that the use value would be higher than exchange
value
• 20th century: autistic view (=narrowed and defined work) on work as ‘paid labour’ → really focused on one
aspect that is considered as labour → work performed on the labour market that gives exchange value
o e.g. driving your own car, driving an Uber-car
o e.g. engaging in community work, politics
o e.g. working ‘for’ labour (updating cv’s, …)
C) Types of work
• ‘Labour power’ (vs ‘labour’):
Labour power= what we trade on the labour market and the management manages it to bring added value to labour
o The possibility to work
o A certain potential in each person
o Promise that is traded on the labour market
o Labour power gets exhausted
→job of management to make this potential of work to real added value
o Regeneration = ‘reproduction’ of labour power = ‘reproductive work’= preparing work for the future
o You do that bcs you want to re-vitalize your labour power
• Different from leisure? Different from non-paid work?
• Intra- and inter-generational
Paid labour Productive Example: fitness coach, lawyer, …
(use and exchange value)
“(Non-paid) work” Productive Example: voluntary work for youth club
(use value)
Reproductive Example: going to the gym to be fit the next
morning to work
Taking care of people
Leisure Certain extend of productivity: Example: going to the gym
(certain personal value)
D) The broader impact of work and production
Material: gives you income and from there on you have many changes BUT also immaterial/broader impact
• Individual level:
o Manifest, material value, … life chances
o Broader value – ‘latent functions’ (Jahoda, 1933): time structure, identity, status, social integration,
collective aims, (mental) health and longevity, …
• Societal level – The ‘primacy of production’ thesis:
Work defines us as human beings and as societies (the way we organize work)
o Nature of the human kind
3
EMPLOYMENT
Christophe Vanroel 2021-2022
Elisa Breyne
, SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND EMPLOYMENT
Contents
Reading assignment ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
Module 1- Introduction: The 3 arenas of the world of work ............................................................................................ 2
Module 2- Job quality in the contemporary workplace.................................................................................................. 14
Module 3- the story of industrialization and de-industrialisation .................................................................................. 30
Movie .............................................................................................................................................................................. 42
Guest lecture- Gender equality, the case of Academia – Evie Rangelova ...................................................................... 44
Module 4: Technology and changing work and employment conditions....................................................................... 51
Module 5- New models of work organization for a new economy ................................................................................ 65
Module 6: Transformation of employment relations and labour markets .................................................................... 76
Guest lecture: Work and employment in the platform economy -Brodersen ............................................................... 89
Module 7- A progressive agenda for the future of work? .............................................................................................. 97
• In-depth sociological analysis of work and employment in the epoch of ‘advanced capitalism’ (1990-2020):
Period of wide neoliberalism →interesting to see how that neoliberalism has an effect on employment
o Work-centered approach: “job quality”
o OECD/EU-focus
Reading assignment
Critical reflection with the guiding questions but you don’t have per se to follow these guidance questions
1- Making critical reflection
2- Participate on the discussion
Guiding questions will be used in the exam! Answers will be discussed in the discussion
1
,Module 1- Introduction: The 3 arenas of the world of work
1. What is work/labour/employment?
2. 3 arena’s: description of the conceptual space
3. Sociological traditions and the sociology of work
I- Conceptions of work and employment
A) What is work?
Legal? Unlegal (no taxes no social security?) Paid? Unpaid? Self-employment? Manual? High value?
• Andre Gorz
“… every paid activity for the account of a third party” (is self-employed then in or out?)
• Tony J. Watson
“… the executions of tasks allowing people to make a living, given the social and economical context they
are living in”
• Vallas
”… any expenditure of human effort aimed at producing a socially valued good or service"
• Grint
“… every activity that transforms nature and is usually performed in a social environment”
Work and non-work
Paid: labour and non-paid: general
• Depends of historical, geographical and cultural context
o Dominance of work as ‘employment’
o Form of appearance and organisation
– Waged-labour, self-employment, non-standard work,
– Platform work (labour negotiation by legal apps), bogus self-employment (have to act like a waged
employee but have the status of self-employed)
– Informal organisation (historically and worldwide rather standard)
– ‘unfree’, forced, dependent, …
o How it is appreciated → Prestige and identity
Money is not enough anymore, have to make a difference with treatment you get at work
eg school teacher: before they were seen as intellectuals and now less
o What is considered as work and non-work;
– Status of domestic and household work (many EU countries have a subsidized domestic work scheme)
– Civil engagement, ‘political’ work
– ‘Time and place-independent work: don’t require employers answering work mails outside working h
– Processes of commodification
• Mirror of strong cultural frames (MeTM) and power relations (e.g. earnings in male/female occupations)
B) The value of work
• Is only (paid) labour valuable work?
→Adam Smith: labour = most important source of value in the economy
• 2 types of value:
2
, o Use value ≈ Social value → For whom?
o Exchange value ≈ Market value →so: “work” and “paid labour” (15euros for 1h of work)
→no capitalist entrepreneur would hire someone by knowing that the use value would be higher than exchange
value
• 20th century: autistic view (=narrowed and defined work) on work as ‘paid labour’ → really focused on one
aspect that is considered as labour → work performed on the labour market that gives exchange value
o e.g. driving your own car, driving an Uber-car
o e.g. engaging in community work, politics
o e.g. working ‘for’ labour (updating cv’s, …)
C) Types of work
• ‘Labour power’ (vs ‘labour’):
Labour power= what we trade on the labour market and the management manages it to bring added value to labour
o The possibility to work
o A certain potential in each person
o Promise that is traded on the labour market
o Labour power gets exhausted
→job of management to make this potential of work to real added value
o Regeneration = ‘reproduction’ of labour power = ‘reproductive work’= preparing work for the future
o You do that bcs you want to re-vitalize your labour power
• Different from leisure? Different from non-paid work?
• Intra- and inter-generational
Paid labour Productive Example: fitness coach, lawyer, …
(use and exchange value)
“(Non-paid) work” Productive Example: voluntary work for youth club
(use value)
Reproductive Example: going to the gym to be fit the next
morning to work
Taking care of people
Leisure Certain extend of productivity: Example: going to the gym
(certain personal value)
D) The broader impact of work and production
Material: gives you income and from there on you have many changes BUT also immaterial/broader impact
• Individual level:
o Manifest, material value, … life chances
o Broader value – ‘latent functions’ (Jahoda, 1933): time structure, identity, status, social integration,
collective aims, (mental) health and longevity, …
• Societal level – The ‘primacy of production’ thesis:
Work defines us as human beings and as societies (the way we organize work)
o Nature of the human kind
3
