Chapter Four- Work, Alienation, Well-Being, and Health
Alienation
Alienation explains how work under capitalism is structured to make workers powerless with
respect to content, conditions, production, and processes of their work
Control is put into hands of owners
Work loses its ability to be self-actualizing, or to fulfill higher human needs
Four sources of alienation:
o Workers are alienated from what they produce
Work is a means to an end does provide any fulfillment
o Workers do not have control over the process of production
Decisions are all made by owners and their agents
Further prevents them from fulfilling themselves
o Workers alienated from themselves or from engaging in creative activity
Separate themselves from humanity
Marx – humans define themselves through labour
o Workers alienated from others
Divided through exploitation and social inequality
Alienation produced from structure and organization of work under capitalism
Negative impacts: limiting workers potential, harm workers physically and mentally
Blauner’s study – Alienation and Freedom – workers’ alienation increased as technology shifted
from craftwork to machine tending and assembly-line work
Exerting more skill and autonomy on the job, workers feel less alienated than others
Eicher and Thompson – alienation is linked to occupational self-direction – those will little
occupational self-direction are much less likely to feel alienated
Alienation linked with class:
o Blue-collar, and lower-level service jobs more alienated
o Middle-class workers in jobs that require more education are granted more autonomy
People enjoy work that has intrinsic awards people do desire work that is creatively fulfilling
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction – summary measure of “workers’ attitude of overall acceptance, contentment
and enjoyment of their jobs”
o Intrinsic awards – decision-making opportunities, challenging nonrepetitive work, and
autonomy that allows for self-direction and responsibility over tasks (INNER
SATISFACTION)
o Extrinsic awards – good wages, benefits, employment security, and opportunities for
advancement (THINGS THAT WILL BENEFIT YOUR LIFE)
Satisfied workers are not always happy and fulfilled workers
Issues with measuring how satisfied we are with our jobs:
o We have complex feelings about our job – we love what we do, but hate our boss etc..
o Represents an attitude or feelings that may be only loosely connected to how we
behave at work
What Makes Workers Satisfied?
Characteristics that are important for contributing to job satisfaction:
o Extent to which work is autonomous, challenging, and interesting Most important factor for contributing to job satisfaction
Higher priority than good pay
More satisfied with interesting, autonomous, and challenging jobs
o Having positive relations with co workers
Positive interactions are rated very high and are more satisfying
Other characteristics: ability to balance work and family, job security and opportunities for
advancement, good pay, and a feeling of being valued and appreciated
Are Some Types of Workers More Satisfied Than Others?
No evidence of gender difference in satisfaction with jobs – equally satisfied
o Even though women have worse conditions than men
o Paradox: women consistently satisfied with less women value work differently than
men
Disagreement with paradox...but men are more satisfied with good pay,
promotion opportunities, complexity, and so on
o Women have work with more positive interactions which can compensate for their
routine work
Difference in satisfaction in race/ethnicity
o Visible minorities are less satisfied with their jobs
o Coloured workers will be less satisfied
Immigrants have high job satisfaction
o Even though immigrants face serious obstacles in search for work – although negative
features still a high satisfaction with the work they get
Age – younger workers are more likely less satisfied with their jobs than older workers
o Explained by the types of jobs youth are able to get
o Youth expectations: youth expect more from their jobs
o Older expectations: older workers have met their expectations and achieved their goals
Jobs satisfaction varies across difference occupations
o Less satisfying jobs: mining, fishing, and farming, and manufacturing sector and industry
work
o Work in the health industry – is the least satisfying
o Conclusion: workers with more occupational self-direction (less alienated) are more
satisfied with their work
More satisfied are those who have jobs that are less alienating
Workplace Stress
Stress – state of tension produced by pressures or conflicting demands with which the person
cannot
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