The functions and meanings of work​
- Work and employment
-​ The most basic function of work is one of sustenance; under capitalism, this takes the
form of employment or an economic function
-​ Employment or lack thereof has profound social implications as well
-​ Work impacts the non-human world as well. Think of the environmental impacts of heavy
manufacturing. ​
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Is work a social problem?​
- work is an activity central to humans. All human work. ​
- Canada historically had a labour problem, and may still have one today.​
Conceptualizing Work and WOrker Well Being​
- concepts are frameworks: ways to guide thinking about complex ideas​
-different conceptions of work lead to different ideas about the definition of work and how to
provide for worker well-being,
-different conceptualizations of work lead to different definitions of who is a worker ​
- Budd’s definition of work: ‘purposeful human activity involving physical or mental exertion that
is not undertaken solely for pleasure that has economic or symbolic value​
-Budd also proposes different measures of worker well-being for each conceptualization of work. ​
A curse
-​ Work is toil. Work is punishment
-​ Elites have long argued there is a natural order to society, and the working poor are
occupying their natural role in working hard, dangerous and dirty
-​ jobs
-​ The presence of carceral labour in many democracies shows that work is still conceived
of as a punishment today.
-​ Implications for worker well-being: if work is expected to be bad, if it is pain and toil,
there is no basis for trying to improve it. In other words, suck it up
Freedom
-​ Freedom from nature
-​ Freedom from the coercion of other people
-​ This perspective underlines some of the foundations of the legal system in capitalist
economies.
-​ Implications for worker well-being - workers should have the opportunity to create or
include a creative element in their work, and workers should have some degree of
independence from their employer.
A commodity
-​ The capacity to work, sometimes referred to as labour power, is bought and sold on
markets
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Labour becomes a commodity like electricity, steel, grain, etc.
Work as a commodity is the main mode of thinking about work in mainstream economics
Work becomes governed by the invisible, impersonal hand of the market
Implications of worker well-being - assume workers can freely quit their job and seek
whatever employment opportunities they desire
Occupational citizenship
-​ What if work is not thought of as an activity of simply individuals pursuing their own best
interests, but as a community activity? - this de-commodifies work
-​ Industrial relations scholarship frequently argues that workers are entitled to minimum
working and living conditions
-​ Workers, simply put, should have more freedom than the freedom to quit.
-​ Implications for well-being - citizenship rights that include minimum labour standards,
safe living and working conditions, employee self-determination.
Disutility
-​ In mainstream economic thinking, individuals are considered to be rational agents
seeking to maximize their utility. - work presents a utility maximization problem: a form of
disutility
-​ There exists a clash of utility; workers want to maximize their utility by working as little as
possible. However, employers want to maximize their utility by having workers work as
hard as possible
-​ . Implications for worker well-being- this is functionally another form of work is a course.
Worker well-being is measured by the ways that work supports consumption.
Personal fulfillment
-​ This conceptualization sees work as being directed by the brain.
-​ Mental state affects work behaviour
-​ Ideally, work should be a source of personal fulfilment and satisfaction.
-​ A great deal of modern human resource management scholarship is built on this
concept.
-​ Implications for well-being - well-being is critical to this conceptualization; worker
well-being depends on the extent to which work provides physical and psychological
rewards.
Social relation
-​ This sees work as an interpersonal activity, explained as a series of social exchanges
-​ One form of social relations is socially constructed power relations - work is based
around capital-labour or employer-employee power dynamics, and these dynamics are
socially constructed
-​ Feminist scholars of work focus on the social relations of “women’s work”
-​ Implications for well-being - this conceptualization highlights that work is a deeply human
activity and asks us to question the structures of work and work-related institutions.
Caring for others
-​ Traditional ideas of work have long excluded unpaid household and caring work from
definitions of work. This has long been criticized by feminists.
-​ Gendered work is the result of socially constructed power dynamics, not biological
characteristics
-​ “The double ghetto” - women’s paid employment is concentrated in the service sector there is a gendered pay gap in Canada
-​ Implications for well-being - does work provide opportunities for caring for others, either
directly through work itself, or indirectly by reducing conflicts that prevent workers from
fulfilling caring responsibilities
Identity
-​ This conceptualization sees work as something individuals create to help understand
where they fit into the broader world
-​ Work gives us a source of meaning
-​ A key part of the Marxist understanding of work is that work is a central element of the
human species identity - when work becomes a commodity, we lose part of ourselves.
-​ Well-being - this looks very similar to the conceptualization of work as a social relation
Service
-​ We usually think of work as centred around the individual - but we can see work as
fulfilling the needs of humanity, a community, an extended family, etc.
-​ The Christian tradition has long seen work as a way to serve God
-​ Volunteering is a form of service, and, by this definition, a form of work.
-​ Confucianism provides another understanding of service work
-​ Worker well-being - well-being is advanced by providing opportunities for serving others,
either through the work itself or by reducing conflicts
Key terms and concepts
-work vs employment
-work and social problems
- Worker well-being
- The double ghetto
And of course, Budd’s ten conceptualizations of work, and their implication for well-being.
How to study for this lecture
- Can you explain each of the ten conceptions of work in your own words?
- More importantly, you will need to analyze terms and conditions of work using these
conceptions. This is the key part of assignment one
- Try using each of the conceptions of work to analyze a job you have had, if you have had a
job.