intro to work

Question 1

Define ‘labour processes’.

Answer 1

The circumstances in which people apply their labour at work to produce goals and services.

Question 2

List 3 examples of how labour processes are applied to work.

Answer 2

1. How they work.
2. Who controls their work.
3. What skills they have.

Question 3

Define ‘divisions of labour’.

Answer 3

Work divided into a large number of specialised tasks or jobs carried out by workers.

Question 4

Define ‘productivity’.

Answer 4

How much workers produce during the labour process.

Their output in terms of items made or processed in a given time period.

Question 5

Define ‘means of production’.

Answer 5

The bourgeoisie own the means of production and the proletariat work the means of production.

This term places its focus upon economic resources, and is sometimes known as the means of physical production.

Question 6

What are the 3 spheres of work?

HINT:

‘… economy’.

Answer 6

1. Core economy.
2. Formal economy.
3. Shadow economy.

Question 7

What is meant by the term ‘spheres of work’?

Answer 7

There are different fields/categories of work.

Question 8

Define the ‘core economy’.

Answer 8

Unpaid work from family, friends and neighbours.

Question 9

Give 3 examples of the types of work found in the core ecomony.

Answer 9

1. Cooking
2. Cleaning
3. Gardening

Question 10

Define the ‘formal economy’.

Answer 10

Paid work, careers, jobs, professions.

Question 11

Which 3 types of people does the formal economy involve?

Answer 11

1. Employees
2. Employers
3. Self-employed

Question 12

What are the two results of the formal economy in terms of money?

Answer 12

National Insurance

Tax

Question 13

Who regulates the formal economy?

Answer 13

The state/government.

Question 14

Define the ‘shadow economy’.

Answer 14

Paid work, hidden from the state.

Question 15

What is meant by the term ‘grey economy?’

Answer 15

Legal work but undeclared for tax purposes.

Question 16

Give an example of the grey economy.

Answer 16

Repair work that is done cash-in-hand.

Question 17

What is meant by the term ‘black economy’?

Answer 17

Illegal work.

Question 18

Give 3 examples of the black economy.

Answer 18

1. Drug dealing
2. Smuggling
3. Selling stolen goods.

Question 19

What are 3 issues with estimating the monetry value of of the black market?

Answer 19

1. It is not regulated or monitored so can only be based on estimates.
2. People lie - too embarrassed to tell the truth.
3. They issue surveys and make huge assumptions based on them.

Question 20

List 3 qualities of pre-industrialised Britain up until the 1800s.

Answer 20

1. Family home was a unit of production.
2. Most activities are carried out through all family members.
3. Family members all co-operated together/worked to produce goods necessary for their own needs.

Question 21

List 3 qualities of industrialised Britain.

Answer 21

1. Home was separate from work.
2. Work moved away from the home and into factories and offices.
3. Labour was sold to employees in exchange for wages.

Question 22

How did industrialisation create an individual soceity?

Answer 22

• Production of goods is mainly carried out using technology rather than using manual craft skills.
• Work is based in factories/officies not the home.

Question 23

Which sector of work does pre-industrialisation come under?

Answer 23

Primary sector.

Question 24

List 2 types of work in the pre-industrialisation era of the primary sector?

Answer 24

• Farming
• Agriculture

Question 25

What does the family home serve as in the pre-industrialisation era?

Answer 25

A unit of production.

Question 26

Which sector of work does industrialisation come under?

Answer 26

Secondary sector.

Question 27

List 2 types of work in the industrialisation era of the secondary sector?

Answer 27

• Manufacturing
• Production in factories

Question 28

How is work produced efficiently through industrialisation?

Answer 28

Using assembly lines.

Question 29

Which sector of work does post-industrialisation come under?

Answer 29

Tertiary sector.

Question 30

List 5 types of work in the post-industrialisation era?

Answer 30

1. Office work
2. Communications
3. Banking
4. Insurance
5. Transportation

Question 31

What are the 4 aspects of work that became a major concern for employers?

Answer 31

1. Control
2. Discipline
3. Productivity
4. Motivation

Question 32

What is meant by the term ‘low trust systems of management control’?

Answer 32

The idea that workers cannot be trusted and need to be closely supervised and monitored.

Question 33

Summarise the functionalist view of industrialisation.

Answer 33

• Industrialisation is a threat to social stability.
• Mechanical solidarity; traditional, low levels of specialism, shared norms and values.
• Organic solidarity; modern, specialised division of labour, interdependence.
• Feared that rapid social change would break down the shared norms and values/lead to ‘anomie’ (normalness).

Question 33

Evaluate functionalists’ perspective of industrialsiation.

Give 2 strengths of their view.

Answer 33

1. Durkheim was conscious that greater individualism associated with industrial society could threaten social solidarity; saw important role for occupational associations, legal contracts and state action to counterbalance this divisive force.
2. Anomie; backed by Merton to suggest why deviant behaviour might occur.

Question 34

Evaluate functionalists’ perspective of industrialisation.

List 2 limitations of their view.

Answer 34

1. Not everyone would turn to deviant behaviour if they are not successful.
2. Other factors impacting social solidarity e.g CAGED.

Question 35

Summarise the marxist view of industrialisation.

Answer 35

• ‘Capitalist industrialisation’ is forming; emergence of the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie of production/capital.
• The proletariat were exploited; bourgeoisie owned ‘surplus value’ of the proletariat labour; the difference between wages paid and money made on the labour of the proletariat.
• Alienation; major issue; estrangement from self, other workers and the work.

Question 36

Evaluate marxists’ perspective of industrialisation.

Give a strength of their view.

Answer 36

Acknowlegded progression; concerned that it was capitalist industrialisation occuring.

Question 37

Evaluate marxists’ perspective of industrialisation.

Give a limitation of their view.

Answer 37

Marxists insist that exploitation is build into capitalism.

Critics disagree; to label a relationship exploitive is not a fact but a judgement.

Question 38

Summarise the interactionist view of industrialisation.

Answer 38

• It created a capitalist society.
• Concerned with the idea of rationalisation (replacement of traditions, calculated ones) e.g implementation of bureaucracies in government bringing rule, control + order.
• Feared the loss of personal freedom/autonomy in a society that was becoming more rational, impersonal and bureaucratic.