Attitudes and Behaviour of Car Assembly Workers: A Deviant Case and a Theoretical Critique

Goldthorpe, John H.

doi:10.2307/588772

Cited by 53 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the 1960s, assembly line work (particularly in the car industry) was widely regarded as boring, stressful and as giving rise to high levels of industrial conflict. However, a study of car workers in Luton (undertaken as part of the 'Affluent Worker' study, see Goldthorpe 1966;Goldthorpe et al 1968) found that car assembly workers expressed considerable satisfaction with their employment, and manifested only low levels of industrial conflict. Goldthorpe et al explained these surprising results by emphasizing the significance of the worker's 'prior orientations' to employment.…”

Section: 'Orientations To Work'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Men with young families, and non-working wives, were most likely to give priority to extrinsic returns from employment. However, the 'orientations' debate did not pursue this topic of the de facto intertwining of market work and nonmarket responsibilities and their relationship to the family life cycle, but rather, polarized into a dispute between protagonists arguing about the relative significance of workplace ('structural') and non-workplace ('action') factors to explanations of attitudes to and behaviour in work (see in particular Goldthorpe (1972) andDaniel 1969;1971).6…”

Section: 'Orientations To Work'mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Explaining Women's Employment Patterns: 'Orientations to Work' Revisited

Crompton¹,

Harris²

1998

The British Journal of Sociology

259

178

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Explanations of the persisting differences in the structure of men's and women's employment have long been debated in the social sciences. Sociological explanations have tended to stress the continuing significance of structural constraints on women's employment opportunities, which persist despite the removal of formal barriers. Neo-classical economists, in contrast, have emphasized the significance of individual choice, an argument which has been recently endorsed by Hakim who suggests that patterns of occupational segregation reflect the outcome of the choices made by different 'types' of women. In this paper, a previous debate relating to the explanatory utility of men's 'orientations to work' is used to argue that employment structures are the outcome of both choice and constraint, and that this is the case for women, as well as men. The argument is illustrated with evidence from cross-nationally comparative biographical interviews carried out in five countries.

show abstract

Section: 'Orientations To Work'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'Orientations To Work'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Women's Employment Patterns: 'Orientations to Work' Revisited

Crompton¹,

Harris²

1998

The British Journal of Sociology

259

178

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the other hand, studies have shown that those who do not value work activity are more alienated from the job situation than those who do. Workers who are not economically motivated and who do not subscribe to the Protestant ethic are more IikeIy to be alienated (Zurcher et al, 1965); Goldthorpe, 1966;Hulin and Blood, 1968).…”

Section: Alienation and Social Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Social Alienation: A Review of Current Literature

Lystad¹

1972

The Sociological Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years considerable attention has been focused on delineation of the concept of alienation and on measurement of its relationship to modern social structure and function. This paper reviews the alienation literature, largely empirically oriented, for the last decade. Included with works of primarily theoretical and methodological importance are substantive studies of the relationships between the alienated individual and his social order. Suggestions for further research are given.* This article was prepared with the assistance of State of the Field Editor, Irwin Rinder.Social Alienation g i of a new world, including the creation of man himself. As private property and the division of labor develop, however, man's labor loses its character as an expression of his powers and assumes an existence separate from him. The products of his labor also stand opposed to him as a power independent of the producer. Man is thus alienated from his labor, from the product of his labor, and, in a sense, from himself. Because capitalism is the instrument that severs these relations, Marx attacks it and its institutions. The positive abolition of private property is thus for Marx the positive abolition of alienation and the return of man to his human, that is social, life (Marx, 1956).Other nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century sociologists concerned with

show abstract

“…In contrast to researchers who maintain that technological conditions are a source of work alienation, Goldthorpe (1966) concludes that social conditions determine workers' feelings of alienation. His study of workers at the Vauxhall car factory in Luton, England was comprised of respondents who all worked on the conveyor belt and who all expressed dissatisfaction with their work.…”

Section: What Was Marx's View Of Bureaucracy? Hasenfield Andcontrasting

confidence: 61%