Traditional Roles of
Work
and the changing composition of the labor force
What Does Work Look Like?
The process of Socialization continues into adulthood, focusing in the workplace
Compare and contrast these two scenes:
The Office
Mad Men
Composition of the Workplace
Male and Female
Women went from holding 37% to 47% of jobs over the last 40 years
Increasingly Multicultural
The Role of Work
Americans value hard work
The Protestant Work Ethic
We began as an Agrarian society (Agricultural)
Technological advancements in food production and industry allowed the shift of
agricultural workers from farms to factories (Industrial Revolution)
People moved to cities (Urbanization)
Manufacturing exploded at the end of WW2
Fueled by discoveries in computer science and their application to new
technologies, the U.S. economy moved from a manufacturing to a knowledge,
How Does It Affect Me?
Global Markets
The increasing connectedness of the global economy means that it has become easier for U.S.
companies to move their manufacturing overseas where it is less expensive
3.8 million U.S. manufacturing jobs were eliminated between 2000 and 2008 (one in five)
Downsizing
Increases in technology mean companies require less employees to operate
Contingent Employment
Reducing employees to part-time employment
How Does It Affect Me?
Middle-Class Jobs
Bureaucracy
An administrative or policy-making group
Hierarchy aka all of your bosses and their bosses
Inefficient
300,000+ office and administrative jobs disappeared from 2004 to 2008
Loss of higher paying jobs has caused what is called ‘downwaging’
Replaced by lower paying jobs, many at or below poverty level
30 years ago one American worker could support a household, now a two-income family is the
Working in the USA
About half of all U.S. workers currently feel satisfied with their salary and job
security
60-80% feel very loyal to their company
That’s a gap of 18-33% between a worker feeling loyal to their company and
feeling their company is loyal to them
Employee trust is eroding
“Good luck with the firings”
Think About It
Think about a job that you or a family member hold. Write a paragraph explaining
why it might be subject to downsizing or contingent employment and how that
would affect you and your family.