Workers and the Workplace
Homo Faber / Homo Ludens
Homo Faber, “The working human”
Intelligence is the “faculty to create artificial objects, in particular tools
to make tools, and to indefinitely variate its makings” -- Henri
Bergson (1907)
Homo Ludens, “The playing human”
“Culture itself bears the character of play”—Johan Huizinga (1938).
The histories of work and play are synonymous with the history of the
human species.
We are tool makers who have gained modest control over the
environment. But the daily struggle, for many people in the world,
has led to a routine and very meager existence and very
circumscribed and mediated forms of play.
The low tech
approach
The !Kung Bushmen of Africa work about 12 to 19 hours per week.
Women do most of the labor and run the society.
As in earlier eras:
—there was no frenetic pace “to get ahead.”
—work and entertainment were mixed.
—the economy was non-inflationary.
—labor was non-specialized.
The development of agriculture meant that people had more food (crops and
domesticated animals), but they also had to work harder. They were tied to
the land.
Servitude and Slavery as an institution was common.
Questions:
Does low tech = a life of toil?
Does high tech = a life of leisure?
Have machines become our slaves? (Labor-saving devices)
Or did we become servants of the machine? (More work for all)
Time
In medieval monasteries monks became clock watchers.
Newton said the universe was like a clock and God was the clock maker.
The bells of the church tower were replaced by the factory whistle.
Keeping the factory machines running around the clock, 7-3, 3-11, 117, became the norm. Time became a commodity. “Rush hour” is thus
related to the mechanical universe. Phrases like “saving time,”
“wasting time,” “spending time,” and “time is money” became
common.
Leisure time became more and more organized. E.g. Little League, two
week vacations (Europeans regularly take 5 to 6 week vacations).
“Free time” does not equal leisure, but is used to support our consumer-driven
standard of living, e.g. fixing the house, mowing the lawn, washing the car.
Participation in passive, mediated leisure activities is also prevalent.
What about free play?
.
Today’s worker
There are 168 hours in a week.
46 (27%) are spent working
35 (21%) are spent sleeping to recover from the fatigue of work
10 (6%) are spent commuting
5 (3%) are spent getting ready for work
24 (14%) are evenings, worrying, and complaining about work
48 (28%) are weekends
TOTAL 168 hours (100%)
Work hours declined from 67 per week in 1860 to 42 per week in 1950.
Since then, the average work week has increased to 46 hours today.
The Overworked American:
The Unexpected Decline of Leisure
“When people put in excessive hours they reach a point of diminishing
returns -- they use more time on personal needs, run more errands, and
call in sick more often”
At the end of World War II, the US had the shortest working hours among
other industrialized countries… We now have the longest. The average
American worker is putting in 200 more hours per year than he or she
was in 1973."—Juliet Schor.
The American Workforce
1850
Eotechnic
Farm
Nature
1910
Paleotechnic
Factory
Machinery
1990s
2010s
Neotechnic ????
Office
Information
Farmers 64%
Factory 40%
Farmers 30%
Service 55%
Factory 28%
Farmers 3%
Technology has initiated a transformation of work from
physical to mental.
Women
workers
Women have been part of the market economy since colonial times.
1. When doing the same work, women are paid less than men.
2. Women are rarely hired to do the same work as men (sex typing).
3. Women see themselves and are seen as transient in the workplace. They are
expected to marry and raise children. There are fewer women in senior
positions such as management.
4. Some low paying men’s jobs in the 19th century have become stereotypical
women’s jobs in the 20th century: seamstresses, schoolteachers,
bookkeepers, secretaries.
5. The home (traditionally women’s sphere) is seen as a low-paying or non-paying
workplace. Even though having individual kitchens, laundries, etc. in every
home could be considered inefficient in an industrial society. there has been
great resistance to such ideas as communal or “socialized” kitchens or
laundries. Today’s trend toward home offices and “telecommuting” often
means women (and men) are outsiders to office politics. Such jobs are often
the first to be cut or marginalized during downsizing.
Issues
Technological unemployment -- Robots, computers, and other electronic devices have
changed the workplace and have created new jobs and eliminated older ones.
The new jobs, however, do not necessarily go to the old employees. People need
to be involved in “life-long” learning. Still there is age discrimination and some
employers, given the opportunity, replace higher paid older workers with
younger entry-level workers.
De-skilling caused by technology -- The transfer of skills from physical to mechanical,
or from general to specific. E.g. John Henry and the pile driving machine (1870s)
or hand-made goods being replaced by machine-based goods. In some cases a
highly-skilled crafter can be replaced by an automated device that just needs to
be oiled and tended.
On the job safety -- There has been improvement in machine safety since the early
industrial revolution and the government (OSHA) sets some standards. Still,
there are more and more hazardous chemicals, and different kinds of workplace
injuries, for example carpal tunnel syndrome. There are also increasing stressrelated disorders and new problems such as sick building syndrome. In general
there are fewer violent deaths on the job, but more long-term debilitating
injuries and diseases.
De-skilling
The task-oriented “craftsman” worked long and hard to complete the job.
Worker had many general skills. People were often paid for piecework.
The time-oriented “industrial” worker punches a clock and is paid by the hour.
Workers are “de-skilled” by running only certain machines or by doing
repetitive actions. Frederick Jackson Taylor, Scientific Management, studied
the motions and schedules of workers to maximize factory efficiency.
TAYLORISM
•
•
•
Frederick Taylor (1911) Principles of Scientific Management devised a means of
detailing a division of labor in time-and-motion studies and a wage system based
on performance.
The main elements of the Scientific Management (Taylorism) are: time studies
(e.g., screw on each bolt in 15.2 seconds), standardization of tools and
implements, the use of "slide-rules and similar time-saving devices", instruction
cards for workmen (detailing exactly what they should do), task allocation, etc.
Taylor called these elements "merely the elements or details of the mechanisms of
management"
Perhaps the key idea of scientific management and the one which has drawn the
most criticism was the concept of task allocation. Task allocation is the concept
that breaking task into smaller and smaller tasks allows the determination of the
optimum solution to the task. "The man in the planning room, whose specialty is
planning ahead, invariably finds that the work can be done more economically by
subdivision of the labour; each act of each mechanic, for example, should be
preceded by various preparatory acts done by other men."
FORDISM
•
•
•
A manufacturing philosophy that aims to achieve higher productivity by
standardizing the output, using conveyor assembly lines, and breaking the work
into small deskilled tasks.
Whereas Taylorism (on which Fordism is based) seeks machine and worker
efficiency, Fordism seeks to combine them as one unit, and emphasizes
minimization of costs instead of maximization of profit.
Fordism also sought, in an era of high immigration, to assimilate the American
workforce and their families as American citizens (and future owners of Fords),
and inculcate patriotic and middle-class values.
Modern Times
Written, directed, music by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, with Paulette Goddard (1934)
Miller Reserve Desk DVD PN1997 .M634 2003 AVAILABLE
Program Notes: A devastating satire on industrial life, Modern Times is the first film in which Chaplin employed
sound effects, and marks the final appearance of his "Little Tramp" character. In this delightfully madcap
comedy, Chaplin plays a hapless factory worker who cracks under the strain of his job and runs amok.
Unemployed on the streets of Depression America, he joins forces with a young woman (Paulette Goddard)
fleeing the childcare authorities, and they embark on a mis-adventure-filled search for happiness. One of
Chaplin's most popular films, this deftly conceived, ingeniously executed social commentary is still every bit as
insightful, relevant, and entertaining as it was in the 1930s.
Questions for Thought:
How did the film portray the interaction of human needs/desires and the needs of the
machine/factory/industrial society?
What have "Modern Times" done to human relations and interactions?
Gears, levers, and pulleys are obvious symbols of technology; what other aspects of technology were portrayed
in the film?
IF YOU WATCH THE ENTIRE FILM:
Police and other authority figures are everywhere in the film. What message(s) were they conveying?
Were there times while viewing the film that you did not see its relevance to STS? What about on retrospect?
Analyze one of the film's metaphors (such as the skating scene, the mechanic's scene, the final hopeful ending
scene, etc.) in light of the film's overall theme.