SOC366H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Informal Sector, Putting-Out System, Unpaid Work
Document Summary
Preindustrial agriculture, women"s and men"s tasks overlapped although the sexual division of labor defined cooking, cleaning and spinning as women"s work. The jobs that women and men usually did were seen as equally valuable, preindustrial agriculture was hardly a paradise of sex equality. Men"s and women"s manufacturing work was organized under different systems of production, with men in guilds and women in workshops. Although the sexes had similar levels of skills, men in manufacturing substantially outlearned women and enjoyed more autonomy. Artisans: craft workers, produced a variety of products from scratch. Guilds: associations of tradespeople or craft workers organized to protect their members interests. The guilds, the precursors of modern unions controlled the apprenticeship systems through which artisans learned their craft. Cottage industry: spin wool, make lace, weave cloth or attach shirt collars for which they were paid on a piecework basis. Piece rate: by the amount of work completed. Earnings often the household"s only cash income.
