Elaine Muscat

Pictures associated with Work

2009-03-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

This picture reminded me of the typical situation of the workers when their rights were not respected. I think that nowadays people are more conscious about their rights regarding work. However, this situation is still present today in certain work ; for instance in child labor.
Regarding work…one should be aware of both rights and duties!

The employer’s power could promote a lack of respect towards the employees…

Pre-Industrial & Industrial Work

2009-03-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Pre-Industrial society & Industrial society

In ‘Sociology of Work’, Grint (2005) mentioned the typical work of Pre-Industrial society where he mainly focused on Britain. He claimed that “we generally know very little about the working lives of the population in any epoch” when to a certain extent, compared with contemporary work (Grint, 2005). Thus, one could only accumulate information “and fragments of evidence rather than draw a series of definitive conclusions” (Grint, 2005).

During the pre-industrial period, work was very much related with agriculture, village or cottage industry where it usually involved manual work. In fact, Grint (2005), stated that “before the Industrial Revolution there were, of course, several forms of industry but most of them were intimately related to agricultural produce: milling, baking, distilling, textiles, wood-based produce etc”. However, “Britain was renowned as a leading producer of agricultural commodities [cattle, hides and corn], as well as hunting dogs, timber, slaves and precious metals” (Salway, 1981). Grint added that “England luxury textiles were still surpassed by those of Italy and Low Countries; in mining and metals it was outproduced by the Germans and Swedes, and in many other things by all of these countries as well as France and Spain” (Grint, 2005). One could notice that pre-industrial work usually did not involve any formal procedures; for instance, they did not work in a specific time or under specific policies.

The family size during the pre-industrial epoch was usually rather large. Women used to help their husbands at work; together with their children. Therefore, it was important for the families of pre-industrial societies to have a lot of children; so that they could help them in the labour. As a result, the whole family used to work. Grint (2005) argued that during the thirteenth century in England “difficulty of making a living as an independent farmer or weaver ensured the growth of the first proletariat of industrial (i.e. textile) workers by the end of the eighteenth century”. He also pointed out that “one of the most successful of the early trade unions developed in cotton where the very powerful, and male-dominated, skilled male spinners organized both themselves, and ultimately the caber cotton workers, to resist the might of the cotton masters” (Grint, 2005).

Moreover, Grint also emphasized that pre-industrial societies had somehow feared from technology; for instance “in 1813, seventeen Luddites were hanged for their part in the rebellion against the new shearing technology which the state now presumed to be inevitable and necessary” (R. Reid, 1986). In fact, “the attempt to replace the ‘moral economy’ with the ‘market economy’ was a transition littered with similar, if less brutal, conflicts” (Thompson, 1986). Hence, technology during this phase was rather limited.

However, the typical work found in the pre-industrial period had somehow changed by the industrial revolution. Thus, the usual work was largely replaced by that of factories, technology in some way had increased, trade unions also increased which eventually brought a decline in family size and a different way of life.

The pre-industrial societies were followed by a new modern societal structure known as the period of industrial societies. Such societies are characterised by the fact that the main aim of these type of societies is to be mass productive and make use of material resources that aid this type of production. From this period, the importance of machines and new technologies started to emerge and the human labour started to decrease and being replaced by machines.

In Britain after the industrial revolution, there was an increase of large factories that took over and threatened the smaller industries already functioning; ‘By then, for example, master clothiers, keen to rid themselves of legal regulations on their expanding businesses and smaller entrepreneurs and journeymen under direct threat from the new factories.’ (Grint, 2005).
During this period, trade unions started to form and as said in Grint 2005, the first started in the cotton industry and was dominated by men. The workers started to sound their voice and were not afraid to confront their superiors, as they were before the industrial revolution. ‘Thompson (1971) and A.Randall (1988), have argued, the work, life and protest of much of the eighteenth century is soaked with an over-arching concern, not with markets and issues of supply and demand, but with moral economy’ (Grint, 2005). During this period, as stated in the above quote, the workers commenced to stand up for there rights and started to unite between themselves.

From the pre-industrial societies to the industrial one, there was a huge change in the way businesses started to be set. Factories have been very important in employing people, but as time went by, the use of machines started to be more influent. These machines made it easier for the production but threatened the employers, as machines are more efficient. Women and other groups started to gain importance in the world of work and started to be valued as possible employers. The industrial revolution aided to produce the industrialised society present today and was of great value to the world of work.

How did work change the Society after the Industrial Revolution?

As the Industrial Revolution changed the nature of work, it also led to a social change. Society after the industrial revolution became more dependent on cash and perceived time as money. The patterns of work were based on time rather than on tasks.

Durkheim stated that the rapid expansion of the industrial society produced a situation of anomie or a state of normlessness. In the post industrial society there was a breakdown of normative behaviour and there was an increase in the rates of suicide, marital breakdown and industrial conflict. People became more restless and dissatisfied as the norms and traditions governing their behaviour were being lost. The division of labour present in the industrial societies encourages individualism and self interest rather than social solidarity and it is based on individual differences rather than similarities. The social solidarity present in pre industrial societies started to erode as people didn’t have a sense of duty and responsibility towards each other; there only duty was to work for the capitalists to survive.

The technology which came long during the industrial revolution was the major cause of the alienation the workers experienced. In contrast to the pre industrial worker, the alienated worker has a sense of powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation and self estrangement (Robert Blauner,1964). Instead of realizing their abilities and potential, workers are considered as means to an end for capitalists who have all the power over the workers.

‘...the new powers of steam engines and mechanical production required factory production, facilitated the division of labour and thus demanded greater degrees of co-ordinative and controlling power on the part of the capitalist factory owner.’ (Grint, 2005)

After the industrial revolution, society was also changed as the family ceased to be a unit of production. The early industrial family members were employed separately as wage earners and as the wages were low and unemployment was high, there was the emergence of working class poverty. The pre industrial extended family became a nuclear family since work required mobility and the conjugal bonds became weak. As women were becoming part of the work force, they also started to make part of trade unions and feminist movements.

Therefore the change in work which happened during the industrial revolution changed completely most aspects of society such as gender roles, education, family structure, physical and mental health and romance. As the working hours became very long and tiring, leisure time became very limited and human freedom threatened.

Critical Review

2009-03-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Through this critical review, Antonella, Clarisse and I are going to analyse five different poems written in the past few centuries. The central theme of these poems is mainly related with work. However, every poem tackles out different aspects regarding work, which are still concerned issues nowadays such as gender and class discrimination.

Philip Larkin, in the poem called Toads, highlights the theme of work in relation to a dull, negative picture. In fact, though Grint (2005) argues that “no unambiguous or objective definition of work is possible”, he included authors who emphasised this necessary activity in their writings often perceiving it as a negative issue; such as Marx. The title in itself ‘Toads’ describes broadly the physical bodies of the workers which get rougher and drier due to the hard work; and which are ultimately compared with those of toads. Larkin seems to deliberate the protagonist as being a repulsive person. Throughout the poem, he emphasized that work has ruined his life and is eventually related with acquiring money and “Just for paying a few bills!” Therefore, he shows a lack of interest towards work. Also as Marx points out, the significance of work is “as a means to an end” in one’s life. The protagonist also claims that, compared with the work he is working, the amount of money he gains is ultimately “…out of proportion”. This is also highlighted by Grint (2005) when he mentioned the ideology of Marx in which he claimed that the bourgeoisie exploit the workers by paying them miserable wages. On the other hand, Larkin notes a positive attainment in being courageous more than others in doing this work. The poet focused more on the so-called ‘males’ work’ which at those times, was often associated with hard and dirty work. During the early twentieth century, people’s mentality about success usually involved status, family and money: “The fame and the girl and the money”.

The poem You will be Hearing from us Shortly by U. A. Fanthorpe also refers to the theme of work. However, it highlights the issue of discrimination against women. This was considered as typical at that time, also as Grint (2005) stated that “employment opportunities for women have historically been restricted in the main to analogous domestic activities”. From the title itself, we think that like in every interview where the employers are not sure if the person is adequate for that job, the woman is told that she will be informed later on if she is eligible for that work. In fact, this poem regards an interview which is carried out with a woman who is applying for a job. From the first verse one can imagine how the woman is underestimated, regarding if she is sure in applying for this job. The questions asked during the interview are regarding age, physical appearance, level of education and family. This feminist poet wanted to emphasize the stereotypes on females at that time which are still considered typical nowadays. The fact that they asked her if she was married, had children and her level of education shows that they considered these issues whether to employ her or not: “We see. The usual dubious”. Grint (2005) claimed that though women’s negative attitudes towards domestic work are very recent, research since the 1950s has suggested that such attitudes were relatively common even then. Therefore, one could suggest that the protagonist in this poem could be a typical woman in the 20th century that wanted to find a job rather than doing domestic work only. Grint (2005) argued that “gender-based inequalities are not inevitable” and that “it should be remembered, however, that gender tends to interact with, rather than override, the significance of class”. That is, gender discrimination can also be related with social class inequalities.

The Chimney-Sweeper’s Complaint by Alcock illustrates a complaint regarding the experiences that a young chimney-sweeper faces during his work which is quite dirty and tough. The chimney-sweeper feels abandoned as he is “Far from my home, no parents I/Am ever doom’d to see;” considering the fact that he is just a boy. He also tries to touch the reader’s heart regarding his harsh lifestyle based on his work:
“Ah, turn your eyes;’twould draw a tear.
Knew you my helpless state.”

Indeed we can also see the form of hierarchy which the poet mostly emphasizes in the last part of the poem. The concept of hierarchy is often associated with that of work, as Giddens (1979) “argued that too many conceptualizations of power take a position in which the default category is one of zero sum: the more A gains the more B loses”. This is also highlighted by Marx’s ideology, when he stated that the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat; and it is this idea that leads him to suggest and urge the workers to revolutionise and bring about communism. Alcock reveals to us how the work leaves him bodily devastated. He also refers to the discrimination he faces on his work: “Yet still my master makes me work, / Nor spares me day or night:” However the chimney-sweeper ignores all these factors when his is at work because the only reason for his effort is done in order to survive and to gain extrinsic rewards.

The theme of work is also stressed out in the title and through the poem Work by D. H. Lawrence. The poet has a negative perception regarding work which ultimately results in a lack of interest. This is shown already in the first few verses:
“There is no point in work
unless it absorbs you
like an absorbing game.”

This negative attitude towards work is also laid emphasis upon by Grint (2005), when he mentioned the “late nineteenth-century music-hall songs revealed, work was an evil but there was no escape from it nor from the class system”. The approaches highlighted by Grint (2005) and D. H. Lawrence portrait work as a negative issue, where there is ultimately no room for leisure or interest towards one’s occupation. D. H. Lawrence suggests that if you don’t feel fascinated vis-à-vis your job, you might as well “don’t do it.” He compares people with nature. This is shown in various similies throughout the poem such as:
“they are like slender trees putting forth leaves, a long
White web of living leaf,”

The type of work that Lawrence spoke about is the typical work of the early 20th century which involved manufacturing in factories. In fact, when Grint (2005) referred to the writings of Allen Clarke (1899) regarding the Lancashire factory workers he pointed out that “some few seek recreation in Sunday school work and prayer meetings, but there the minority; the majority want stirring amusements, lively and intoxication – something to make them forget”.

The theme of work is questioned in the poem What the chairman told Tom by Basil Banting. He points out such attitudes that people show towards poetry and being a poet. We noticed that this poem is an autobiography of Banting. People used to undervalue this work as they compare it with work which was more manual and hard at those times. Indeed, Grint (2005) said that ultimately “what counts as work cannot be served from the context within which it exists, and the context necessarily changes through space and time”. That is, at that time being a poet was not considered as work; however this idea changed over time. Thus, the value of work must be analysed and understood within a particular time and space. They sought a difference between ‘manual work’ and ‘mental work’. As Banting pointed out, they didn’t even consider this type of profession as work:
“ It’s not work. You don’t sweat.
Nobody pays for it.
You could advertise soap.”

In the 20th century poets were considered with little significance towards their status as anybody could do their work:
“My ten year old
can do it and rhyme.”

As highlighted in the other poems, the idea of hierarchy is also portrayed in this poem. He discussed the issue of wages and says that poets are less paid then in other jobs. He talks as well about the subordination that is seen in the other jobs whereas the poet does not have. Banting concludes the poem by an intervention of Mr. Hines telling the protagonist: “Go and find work”, making him more conscious that his ‘work’ is not considered as such.

Through these poems, several factors that Grint points out in his text were highlighted. We noticed that the idea that manual work is better than any other type of job came out in ‘Toads’ and in ‘What The Chairman Told Tom’ the job of a poet is not given any status at all. Such a lack of importance is also given to the job of the chimney-sweeper in the ‘The Chimney-Sweeper’s Complaint’ where he emphasis the harsh conditions he is in. Dominance is also seen in other ways, most of all by the employer with his workers like in ‘What the chairman told Tom’ and ‘You will be Hearing from us Shortly’. In the latter, discrimination based on gender and social background was also observed. On the other hand only in the poem ‘Work’, where a comparison to nature and fun is done, this is seen in a bit of a positive view.

Poems related with Work

2009-03-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

1. Toads

by PHILIP LARKIN (1922-85), 1955

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?
Six days of the week it soils
With its sickening poison -
Just for paying a few bills!
That's out of proportion.
Lots of folk live on their wits:
Lecturers, lispers,
Losers, loblolly-men, louts-
They don't end as paupers;
Lots of folk live up lanes
With fires in a bucket,
Eat windfalls and tinned sardines-
They seem to like it.
Their nippers have got bare feet,
Their unspeakable wives
Are skinny as whippets - and yet
No one actually starves.
Ah, were I courageous enough
To shout, Stuff your pension!
But I know, all too well, that's the stuff
That dreams are made on:
For something sufficiently toad-like
Squats in me, too;
Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck,
And cold as snow,
And will never allow me to blarney
My way of getting
The fame and the girl and the money
All at one sitting.
I don't say, one bodies the other
One's spiritual truth;
But I do say it's hard to lose either,
When you have both.

2. You will be Hearing from us Shortly

by U. A. FANTHORPE (1929 - ), 1982

You feel adequate to the demands of this position?
What qualities do you feel you
Personally have to offer?
Ah.
Let us consider your application form.
Your qualifications, though impressive, are
Not, we must admit, precisely what
We had in mind. Would you care
To defend their relevance?
Indeed.
Now your age. Perhaps you feel able
To make your own comment about that,
Too? We are conscious ourselves
Of the need for a candidate with precisely
The right degree of immaturity.
So glad we agree.
And now a delicate matter: your looks.
You do appreciate this work involves
Contact with the actual public? Might they,
Perhaps, find your appearance
Disturbing?
Quite so.
And your accent. That is the way
You have always spoken, is it? What
Of your education? We mean, of course,
Where were you educated?
And how
Much of a handicap is that to you,
Would you say?
Married, children,
We see. The usual dubious
Desire to perpetuate what had better
Not have happened at all. We do not
Ask what domestic desires shimmer
Behind that vaguely unsuitable address.
And you were born -?
Yes. Pity.
So glad we agree.

3. The Chimney-Sweeper's Complaint

by Mary Alcock (née Cumberland) (c.1742 – 98)

A chimney-sweeper's boy am I:
Pity my wretched fate!
Ah, turn your eyes; 'twould draw a tear.
Knew you my helpless state.
Far from my home, no parents I
Am ever doom'd to see;
My master, should I sue to him,
He'd flog the skin from me.
Ah, dearest Madam, dearest Sir,
Have pity on my youth:
Though black, and covered o'er with rags.
I tell you naught but truth.
My feeble limbs, benumb'd with cold,
Totter beneath the sack,
Which ere the morning dawn appears
Is loaded on my back.
My legs you see are burnt and bruis'd,
My feet are galled by stones,
My flesh for lack of food is gone,
I'm little else but bones.
Yet still my master makes me work,
Nor spares me day or night:
His 'prentice boy he says I am,
And he will have his right.
‘Up to the highest top,’ he cries,
‘There call out chimney-sweep!’
With panting heart and weeping eyes
Trembling I upwards creep.
But stop! no more — I see him come;
Kind Sir, remember me!
Oh, could I hide me under ground,
How thankful should I be!

4. Work

by D. H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930),1929

There is no point in work
unless it absorbs you
like an absorbing game.
If it doesn't absorb you
if it's never any fun,
don't do it.
When a man goes out into his work
he is alive like a tree in spring,
he is living, not merely working.
When the Hindus weave thin wool into long, long
lengths of stuff
With their thin dark hands and their wide dark eyes
and their still souls absorbed
they are like slender trees putting forth leaves, a long
white web of living leaf,
the tissue they weave,
and they clothe themselves in white as a tree clothes
itself in its own foliage.
As with cloth, so with houses, ships, shoes, wagons or
cups or loaves.
Men might put them forth as a snail its shell, as a bird
that leans
its breast against its nest, to make it round,
as the turnip models his round root, as the bush makes
flowers or gooseberries,
putting them forth, not manufacturing them,
and cities might be as once they were, bowers grown out
from the busy bodies of people.
And so it will be again, men will smash the machines.
At last, for the sake of clothing himself in his own leaflike
cloth
tissued from his life,
and dwelling in his own bowery house, like a beaver's
nibbled mansion
and drinking from cups that came off his fingers
like flowers off their five-fold stem
he will cancel the machines we have got.

5. What The Chairman Told Tom

by BASIL BANTING (1900-85), 1965

Poetry? It's a hobby.
I run model trains.
Mr Shaw there breeds pigeons.
It's not work. You dont sweat.
Nobody pays for it.
You could advertise soap.
Art, that's opera; or repertory -
The Desert Song.
Nancy was in the chorus.
But to ask for twelve pounds a week -
married, aren't you? -
you've got a nerve.
How could I look a bus conductor
in the face
if I paid you twelve pounds?
Who says it's poetry, anyhow?
My ten year old
can do it and rhyme.
I get three thousand and expenses,
a car, vouchers,
but I'm an accountant.
They do what I tell them,
my company.
What do you do?
Nasty little words, nasty long words,
it's unhealthy.
I want to wash when I meet a poet.
They're Reds, addicts,
all delinquents.
What you write is rot.
Mr Hines says so, and he's a schoolteacher,
he ought to know.
Go and find work.