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| Module Availability |
| Semester 2 |
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| Assessment Pattern |
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Unit(s) of Assessment
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Weighting Towards Module Mark (%)
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Portfolio of four (500 word each) critical summaries
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50
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Exam (1 hour)
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50
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Qualifying Condition(s)
A weighted aggregate mark of 40% is required to pass the module.
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| Module Overview |
| Work has been a central concern of sociologists from Marx, Weber and Durkheim through later feminist and post-stucturalist theorists. This module provides a broad introduction to the sociology of work, beginning with a critical analysis of theoretical perspectives on the social organisation of work and a discussion of what work is and why it matters. We build on this to discuss experiences of work, focusing on mass production and specialisation, skilling and de-skilling, managerial control and worker resistance and consent as well as more recent changes in the social organisation of work including globalisation, flexibilisation and the impact of technology. |
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| Prerequisites/Co-requisites |
| None |
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| Module Aims |
· To introduce key issues in the sociology of work
· To explore different theoretical approaches to understanding working life
- To document changes, and continuities in work, the workplace and the social organisation of work, including movement of work between paid and unpaid spheres
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| Learning Outcomes |
By the end of this module students should:
· Understand the historic development of work in capitalism
· Understand changes and continuities in the experiences of work
· Have a critical understanding of a wide range of classical and contemporary theoretical perspectives seeking to explain the social organisation of work
- Be able to apply these theoretical perspectives to contemporary experiences of work
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| Module Content |
· What is work?
· Theoretical approaches to the sociology of work (including Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Foucault, Feminists)
· Fordist mass production vs post-Fordism and the ‘flexible worker’
· Skill and de-skilling
· Worker resistance and management control
· Globalisation, technology and the ‘Information Society’
- Workplace and labour market segregation (gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age and disability)
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| Methods of Teaching/Learning |
11 lectures and 11 seminars
Weekly reading and seminar preparation
ULearn contributions
Group debate, and preparation
Role play and other group exercises |
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| Selected Texts/Journals |
Braverman, H (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital Monthly Review Press
Burawoy, M. (1982) Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism. University of Chicago Press (2nd edition)
Grint, K (2005) The Sociology of Work Polity (3rd edition)
Korczynski, M, Hodson, R and Edwards, P (eds) (2006) Social Theory at Work Oxford University Press
Noon, M and Blyton, P (2007) The Realities of Work: Experiencing Work and Employment in Contemporary Society Palgrave Macmillan (3rd edition).
Strangleman, T. and Warren, T (2008) Work and Society: Sociological Approaches, Themes and Methods. London: Routledge.
Tilly, C and Tilly, C (1998) Work under Capitalism. Westview Press.
Toynbee, P (2003) Hard work: Life in low pay Britain Bloomsbury |
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| Last Updated |
| April 2011 |
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