Wolfgang Littek

Labor, Division of

Labor (or work) denotes an activity necessary to secure human existence. Division of labor refers to the separation of tasks and the specialized allocation to different workers. It is an active force in social structuring, economic development, and the everyday experience of individuals. Whereas changes within premodern societies have been slight, the rise of capitalist industrialization has caused a tremendous expansion of the detailed division of labor in large-scale manufacturing accompanied by a complex social division of labor in society. Various forms as well as the dynamics of structural change of the division of labor are discussed. An overview of main theories concludes the article.

Rationalisation, Technical Change and Employee Reactions

The effects of the economic recession and organisational restructuring on working conditions have been significant since the mid-1970s in West Germany as in other Western countries. In particular, the new microelectronic information technologies have proved to be powerful instruments for the rationalisation of work. Employee resistance has been minimal and this widespread acquiescence is surprising in the face of such drastic restructuring of the labour process. In terms of macro-level analysis which focuses on the structural features of society, why do large groups of wage workers apparently not act according to the interests derived from their class position? The micro-level of group behaviour and individual action attuned to the social system inside the firm to which radical writers in the USA and Great Britain are increasingly returning, has largely been omitted in the critical (structural Marxist) debate in Germany. A major theme of this chapter will be the need to reinstate it as crucial to an understanding of class and employment relations.