Classical approaches to work

Marx, Weber and Durkheim

 Introduction
The ideas of gang of three Marx,
Weber and Durkheim
Situated at three corners of a
triangle.
Durkheim focused on social
solidarity, integration and control.
Marx concerned social
fragmentation, disintegration and
conflict.
Weber developed- theory of
rationality and bureaucracy
Marxs argument Human species is
different from all other animal species
not because of its consciousness but
because it alone produces its own
means of subsistence.
For example: Take raw resources like
cotton, wool and turning them into
woven cloth.
This unique human attribute
provides a medium where individual
can realize their true potential as
humans.
However capitalism deny human it
species being.
 Marx and capitalism
Marx distinguish between objectification
and alienation.

Objectification
Product of human labour on raw
materials
Embodies the producers creativity and
yet remain separate from the producer
Some form of production is essential to
humanity both in providing the material
structure of social life and in facilitating
self realization of individual potential.
The problem is when the system of production is
capitalist minority owns means of production.
The majority own only their labour power and
where the production is made for profit therefore
it causes alienation (not objectification).
The unique quality of human beings their ability
to produce their own means of existence,
actualize and realize their own potential , creative
capacity thru labor is inverted thru capitalism.
In modern industrial production under capitalist
workers will inevitably lose control of their lives
by losing control over their work.
Before capitalist shoemaker would own
his own shop, set his own hours,
determine his working condition, shape his
own product, has say in how his product is
sold and has relationship with people
whom he worked and dealt.
Under the modern factory production by
contrast the workers have to work under
monotonous and closely supervised task,
lost control over the process of production,
over the products they produce and the
relationship with each other.
They become estranged from their human
nature.
Human beings cannot be human under
these conditions.
Marx capitalism has to be abolished as
much as any political oppression if a
societys emancipation (pembebasan) is to
be complete.
Capitalism limits peoples autonomy
controlling their workplaces and economic
life.
A society of truly free citizens according to
Marx must be a political, economic and
social democracy.
Single alternative to Marx - Communism
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and
political ideology that promotes the establishment
of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society
based on common ownership and control of the
means of production and property in general.

In Karl Marx's own words ----------- "In

communist society, where nobody has one
exclusive sphere of activity but each can become
accomplished in any branch he wishes, society
regulates the general production and thus makes
it possible for me to do one thing today and
another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in
the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize
after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever
becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
In political science, the term "communism" is
sometimes used to refer to communist states, a
form of government in which the state operates
under a one-party system and declares allegiance
to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof, even
if the party does not actually claim that it has
already developed communism.

Marxism holds that a process of class conflict and

revolutionary struggle will result in victory for the
proletariat and the establishment of a communist
society in which private ownership is abolished
over time and the means of production and
subsistence become the property of society.
 Alienation
Systematic result of living in a socially
stratified society, because being a
mechanistic part of a social class alienates
a person from his and her humanity.
Alienation means seperation from that
which is desired/desirable.
Theoretic basis of alienation the worker
invariably loses the ability to determine
his or her life and destiny.
They are deprived the right to think of
himself as the director of his action, to
determine the character of
 of said actions; to define his
relationship with other people; and
to own the things and use the value
of the goods and services, produced
with his labor.
- Although the worker is an
autonomous, self-realized human
being as an economic entity he is
directed to goals and dictated to
activities dictated by the
bourgeoisie (who own the means of
production).
 Four aspects of alienation
Product alienation
The product is owned by the employer
Absence of control of producer over the
product
Products are not for self realization
Products are to maximize profit
Thus, the worker produce cash crops for the
market when they are malnourished, build
houses in which they never live, make cars
they can never buy, produce shoes they
cannot afford to wearand so on.
 Activity alienation
Division of labor
The second aspect of alienation stems from the
ever increasing division of labor fragments
productive process.
Managers divide complex work process into
simple, repetitive tasks which workers can
perform in machine-like fashion.
The workers had to specialize in particular
task, which realized only one or two aspects of
their human powers at the expense of others.
Meaningless tasks
Work is involuntary and doesnt develop
creative potential
 Social alienation
Turn every productive group into
competitor, setting individuals against
individual .
Alienated from fellow human beings.
Reduces social relations between people to
economic exchanges of commodities.
spends his time doing things in which he is
not interested in, with people he is not
interested, producing things which he is not
interested (Fromm, 1968:38)
 Species alienation
The mindless repetition blurs the
distinction between humanity and
animality.
Products become commodity which
dominate humans.
Objects designed for use by human
are transformed via the capitalist
mode of production into commodities
that dominate human.
Exploitation and capitalist labor
process
Production should distinguishes
between man and animals
medium for self realization
Capitalism distorts that
This creates social conflict which in
turn will destroy capitalism and move
towards a communist society
In the capitalist system of production,
the manual labour of the employed
carpenter yields him wages, not
profits.

In the capitalist system of

production, the intellectual labour of
the employed engineer yields him a
salary, not profits.

Strikers confronted by soldiers during

the 1912 textile factory strike in
Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,
called when owners reduced wages,
after a state law reduced the work
week from 56 to 54 hours.
Durkheim and industrial society

- Durkheim formally established the

academic discipline and, with Karl Marx
and Max Weber, is commonly cited as
the principal architect of modern social
science and father of sociology.
 Durkheim and industrial society
Durkheim discussed social solidarity--the
bond between all individuals within a
society
In his first major work, The Division of
Labor in Society, first published in 1893
Assumption - that modern industrial
society was disintegrating due to
increasing division of labor and
urbanization of life.
Durkheim retorted that rather being
dismantled-
 solidarity was reconstructed in a
different form.
Durkheim- argued that modern
industrial society actively freed
people from isolation by inducing
mutual dependence through an
increasing division of labor.
- Solidarity cohesion of human groups
into a social unity.
- Two types : 1) Mechanical solidarity ,
2) Organic solidarity
 Mechanical Solidarity
Social cohesion based upon the likeness and
similarities among individuals in a society, and
largely dependent on common rituals and
routines.
Common among prehistoric and pre-
agricultural societies
when all members of a society performed the
same or nearly the same tasks as all others in
a society.
If one person were to die and not be replaced,
the society would not change, because all
other members did the same thing
The bond derives not from dependence on
other individuals, but from the dependence on
the total social system.
 Organic Solidarity
Social cohesion based upon the
dependence individuals in more advanced
society have on each other.
Common among industrial societies as the
division of labor increases.
Though individuals perform different tasks
and often have different values and
interests, the order and very survival of
society depends on their reliance on each
other to perform their specific task.
Like the organs within an animal,
individuals perform certain specific
functions, but rely on the well-being and
successful performance of other
individuals.
If one organ fails, the rest of them fail as
well.
A body--or in this case a society--cannot
function at all if one part crumbles.
This reliance upon each other for social
(and even physical) survival is the source
of organic solidarity, according to
Durkheim.
There is no necessary correlation between
increased specialization and decreasing
solidarity.
At the end of his work The Division of labour
however,
Durkheim note that there can be problems in
society.
The division of labour itself does not always
function as well as it could in modern society.
Durkheim maintained that abnormal forms of
the division of labor still persisted and brought
with them problems for the production and
reproduction of the necessary degrees of social
solidarity.
There are two types of abnormal forms of the
division of labour: anomic and forced division
of labour
Abnormal forms of division of labor
Anomic
Meaninglessness of work: a transient
form generated between the collapse of
mechanical solidarity and the creation of
organic solidarity

During this phase new norms of

behaviour had yet to be diffused
throughout society worsen by the
apparent deskilling of work manifest in
factory system
Workers were constrained (didesak) to
meaningless operations of products for
consumers they didnt know
As the norms of behaviour spread and
anarchy (kacau-bilau) of the free market
dwindled (menyusut) under social
regulation the anomic division of labour
would disappear.
Forced division of labor
The force div of labour is where the
division of labour is not allowed to
develop spontaneously.
Any factors that prevent individuals
from achieving positions which would be
consistent with their natural abilities
indicates a force division of labour.
This could be inequalities in the
structure of work or inadequate
organization, with the wrong people in
particular positions or incoherent
organizational structures.
Any interference with the operation of the
division of labour that results in the
position being filled by those who are not
most apt (tepat/sesuai) for the position
could be forced division of labour.
Forced division of labour focused on
structural inequalities .
Because of different social class people
who are in the lower class will not receive
the same type of opportunities.
 Max Weber

His contribution to sociology of work are in

three fields
Social stratification (Class, status,
party)
Interpretative methodology
bureaucracy
 Class and stratification
Weber developed a different approach to the
study of social group and classes than did Marx.
For Marx 2 primary group in society and there
were classes (the bourgeoisie and the proletariat)
whose contradictory relationship is the motive
force for change in capitalism.
Marx considers these classes to be defined and
determined by whether they own the means of
production (bourgeoisie) or whether they do not
own the means of production and sell labor to
those who do (proletariat).
For Weber It is not possible to reduce the
organization of all these people to a single
dimension such as ownership or non-ownership of
the means of production.
There is a pluralism associated with the class
structure.
Create a grouping such as a class, status group
or party.
For Weber what we call social stratification/
social class is in the sphere of power and can be
analyzed by examining economic situation, status
honor and parties (organizations formed by
people to achieve certain ends).
A persons power can be shown in the social
order through his/her status, in the economic
order through class and in the political order
through his/her party.
Class, status and party are each aspects of the
distribution of power within a community.
1) Classes
- Analysis of class rooted in the
economic sphere, in the domain of
markets
- Webers approach more diverse than
Marx.
- For Weber there are many more
possible classes than just capitalist
and workers.
Does not consider ownership or non-ownership of
the means of production to be the major source
of class formation in capitalism.
Classes may be distinguished in several ways
Since there are many markets, interests and
class situations there are multiplicity of classes
in any society.

3 types of class
Property/ownership class
Commercial/acquisition class
Social
 a) Ownership/property class
- Who own mines, cattle, slaves, capital goods,
stocks, money, land, real estate and in todays
world new forms of property such as forest, water,
technology (patents), communications (media sells
audiences), franchises and intellectual property.
b) Commercial /acquisition class
- Individuals who have no tangible, marketable
property but have certain skills or abilities which
can be offered on the market
- Determined by the skills and occupational
characteristics members bring into the market.
- Specialists or those who have unusual talents such
as entertainers, sports professionals, may be able
to be well situated with respect to some market.
c) Social class
Occupationally based and distinguishes
between the working class of labor sellers;
the lower middle class of shopkeepers.
For examples: the intelligentsia with little
property but technical qualification
(technicians, civil servants, various kinds
of white-collar employees).
 Status
Individuals can be ranked on the basis of
honor or prestige.
Was not determined by class even though
it correlates with class. Individuals who
are low in class position can be high in
prestige and vice versa.
Determined by life style, formal education,
occupational prestige, hereditary prestige.
 Parties
Final aspect of Webers trilogy of power
was the party.
Class fought over economic issues, status
group contested the distribution of social
honor and parties were oriented towards
the acquisition of social power.
Parties are organizations, rather than
communities or groups and they involve
striving for a goal in a planned manner.
Associations that aim at securing power
within an organization.
They are associations of people that
attempt to influence social action.
If status groups or classes become well organized
they may form parties (Trade unions,
Professional Associations).

Parties tend to be a feature of modern society

where power is exercised in a more formal,
rational and planned manner than in traditional
society.

Parties means of organizations to achieve

specific end in modern society and once
organizations are developed as parties they
become more rational, that is systematic and
permanent.
 Interpretative Methodology
Other main contributions of Weber is
his work on methodology.
Denied structural approach of both
Marx and Durkheim.
Weber use interpretative
methodology to study social action.
Based on understanding the purpose
and meaning that individual attach to
their own actions.
Social phenomena caused by individual actions
and thoughts.
This interpretative method (Verstehen) was
different from the observational methods used by
natural scientists .
Verstehen refers to understanding the meaning
of actions from the actors point of view.
Example: 1) wandering around town as a
pleasurable experience during vacation
2) an expression of boredom through
unemployment
The difference is difficult to explain by observing
and requires interpretative understandings.
 Capitalism and rationalization

Weber convinced that contemporary

society was grounded in the symbolic and
material advance of rationality.
The principal physical manifestation took 3
related form: capitalism, rational
jurisprudence and bureaucracy
Webers view modern society esp the
western world is growing increasingly
rationalized.
Rise of rationality means the decline of magical
interpretation and explanations of the world and
the gradual elimination of all mysteries as science
exploded more and more mythical assumptions.
Tradition action replaced by rational action.
We dont do things just because that is how it is
always done, nor because we had emotional
reasons for doing it.
Instead we did things because we calculated
the benefits out-weighed the cost, or because we
assessed the action as the most efficient way to
achieve our goals.
We take actions which are most efficient way to
achieve our goals.
 Bureaucracy

Weber regarded bureaucracy

ultimate example of rationalization.
Weber interest in the nature of
power and authority, as well as his
pervasive preoccupation with modern
trends of rationalization.
Bureaucracy organized according to
rational principles
Bureaucratic coordination of activities
are the distinctive mark of the modern
era.
 Characteristics of bureaucracy
1) Fixed division of labor
- Jurisdictional (Bidang kuasa) areas are
clearly specified
- Has specific set of official duties and rights
that cannot be changed at the whim of the
leader.
2) Hierarchy of office
- Each office should be controlled and
supervised by a higher ranking office.
3) Rational-legal authority
- This type of authority rests on the belief in
the legality of formal rules and hierarchies.
- Authority is given to officials based on their
skills, position and authority placed
formally in each position.

4) Creation of rules to govern performance

- Rules should be specified to govern official
decision and actions.

- The essential points of bureaucracy:

1)It was legal in that it operated on the basis
of procedures
2)It was rational because it operated on the
principle of expert knowledge and
calculability.