The Changing World of Work and Society free essay sample

Therefore, the changing world of work and organisations is an important area of study for sociology. There are many different sociological theories which attempt to describe how an individual’s relationship to society is affected by work. This essay will describe and evaluate some of these theories. Functionalist sociologists see work as an essential activity to ensure the stability of society. They claim that society places pressure on the individual to adhere to the social norms of the society thus maintaining the social structure. Durkheim described how a collective conscience is created by the collective will and value consensus of people living in a society. It is a set of shared beliefs and moral attitudes. The collective conscience acts as a unifier in society as each individual’s personal belief will be largely similar to the collective beliefs in that society. Durkheim’s theory, The Division of Labour in Society, describes the process of change from a traditional society to a modern one whilst maintaining social order. We will write a custom essay sample on The Changing World of Work and Society or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Central to his theory are the concepts of mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. In traditional societies the majority will generally carry out a similar type of work, mostly agricultural labour. As a result their lives will be very similar which will create a sense of understanding and social cohesion. Durkheim called this process mechanical solidarity. Organic solidarity occurs, according to Durkheim, in modern industrial societies as jobs are diversified and there is a greatly increased dependency on others (Kirby et al, 1997). Each individual must have a distinct job or action and this allows increased individualism of society. Durkheim, however, was doubtful that a real form of organic solidarity could occur because of the problems of anomie and forced division of labour. The division of labour is responsible for creating solidarity in society. However, the collective conscience is less strong than it was under mechanical solidarity. When an individual becomes so individualised in their work they may experience a feeling of isolation, normlessness and despair as they no longer knows their place in society. Durkheim called this felling anomie. Anomie will often lead to a number of social problems such as delinquency and, as Durkheim’s study suggests, an increase in suicide rates. However, Durkheim suggests that the use of social institutions such as the education system can help to maintain social solidarity among people in industrial societies (Haralambos and Holborn, 2008). This argument has often been criticised for assuming that societies have a shared culture to be passed down through the education system, especially in multi-cultural societies such as Britain. The forced division of labour occurs when individuals are required by the division of labour to carry out tasks which are not suited to their personal abilities. This is caused in an unequal society in which working class people are often forced into unskilled, manual labour as they did not have the opportunity to learn new skills or achieve a higher level of education and on the other hand a person from a higher social class may be given an executive position because they have good contacts despite their lack of appropriate skills.