Division of Labor
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The division of labor describes the splitting up of a complex productive task into a number of specialized, simpler tasks.
For example, an assembly line in a car manufacturing company may have one dedicated area for attaching wheels to cars and another for affixing doors to them, with workers assigned to just one of these tasks.
This specialization allows for greater efficiency and productivity (Littek, 2001). The division of labor has been a major driving force behind the growth and prosperity of civilization.
It is one of the key reasons why, today, people can produce more goods and services than ever before.
The division of labor is not just limited to factories and businesses. It also exists in our homes, schools, and government. There is almost no area of human activity where the division of labor does not play a role (Littek, 2001).
- The division of labor is the specialization of tasks within a production process. It is a key concept in economics and is often considered one of the main causes of the increased productivity and economic growth since the Industrial Revolution.
- Division of labor occurs when workers are allocated different tasks to perform, and it can lead to increased efficiency as each worker becomes better at their specific task.
- This specialization can also result in economies of scale, as businesses are able to produce more output with fewer inputs.
- While division of labor can be beneficial, it can also lead to some negative consequences. For example, it can lead to workers becoming bored or pigeon-holed into repetitive and low-skilled jobs, increase dependence, and create a lack of responsibility among workers.
- The division of labor can be extended to other forms of labor outside of manufacturing, such as housework and childcare. Historically, women have taken on a greater proportion of these responsibilities than men.
Theories About Division of Labor
Adam Smith, a social philosopher and economist is credited with being the first to really delve into and analyze the division of labor.
In his book, The Wealth of Nations, Smith discusses how the division of labor leads to greater efficiency and productivity. He also notes that the division of labor is a major driving force behind the growth and prosperity of civilization.
The division of labor is not just economically motivated. Many sociologists consider division of labor to be a pre-condition for conceptualizing society. The social division of labor is a term used by sociologists to describe the divisions at different levels of society, which comprise its complex structure.
These divisions can fall along the lines of class, gender, or ethnicity; on the role of power; on forces of social cohesion and disintegration; and on the importance of solidarity and morale.
Although originally an economic concept, division of labor came to heavily influence the thought of the first major sociologists (Littek, 2001).
Following Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, another social philosopher, took a different approach to the division of labor. In his view, the division of labor leads to people becoming more like machines. This, in turn, makes them less capable of thinking for themselves and living meaningful lives (Littek, 2001).
Karl Marx , a political economist, believed that the division of labor leads to workers becoming alienated from their work. He saw this as a major problem with capitalism and believed it was one of the key ways capitalists exploit workers (Littek, 2001).
Emile Durkheim believed that the division of labor is directly proportional to the dynamic or moral density of society — a combination of the concentration of people and the amount of socialization of a group.
As people become more concentrated, towns grow, and so does the amount and efficiency of communication. Increasingly, labor is becoming more divided, and jobs are becoming more specialized.
Simultaneously, because tasks grow more complex and people are limited to just a small part of them, the struggle for meaningful existence becomes more strenuous (Crossman, 2019).
What Factors Led Societies to Develop the Division of Labor?
As societies have developed and become more complex, the division of labor has become more and more commonplace. There are several factors that have led to this development.
One factor is the increasing size of populations. With more people and greater demand for services comes a greater need for specialization and division of labor to be produced enough to serve everyone.
Another factor is the growth of technology and industry. As technology advances, it has become possible to divide tasks even further. Not only does technology allow people to carry out more complex tasks than before, but people must maintain this technology.
Additionally, as people began to buy and sell goods from different parts of the world, they needed to specialize in order to be able to produce what was in demand and what was economically viable to produce.
Advantages of Division of Labor
1. efficient mastery (specialization of labor).
When workers specialize in a particular task, they are able to perfect their technique and produce a higher quality product (Boyce, 2021).
2. Quicker Training
The process of training an employee to carry out and perfect a complex task — like creating an entire knife from start to finish — requires, in some cases, years.
However, if the task is divided into simpler subtasks that can be learned quickly and are distributed among an entire team, the training process is much shorter and requires less skill and experience.
As a result of the division of labor, what was once considered to be manufacturable only by artisans and experts can become accessible to relatively low-skilled workers (Boyce, 2021).
3. Productivity
As the scope of each worker”s task becomes smaller, workers are better able to complete that task in a short amount of time. As a result, they can complete more tasks in a day, leading to increased productivity (Boyce, 2021).
4. Efficient Allocation of Workers
The division of labor allows for a more efficient allocation of workers. When each worker is assigned a specific task suited to their specific skills, the use of their time and skills is maximized.
This results in fewer idle workers and less wasted time and resources (Boyce, 2021).
5. Cheaper Products
There are a few reasons why division of labor can drive down prices. Firstly, task allocation can lead to increased productivity.
This means that businesses can produce more products in a shorter amount of time. As the number of products available in a market increases relative to demand, price decreases (Francois, 1990).
Secondly, the division of labor often leads to economies of scale. This is when the cost of production decreases as the volume of production increases.
This can happen because, for example, a manufacturer is able to negotiate with its suppliers to buy goods more cheaply in bulk, or the cost of transporting an individual item becomes cheaper en masse.
Finally, as workers become more specialized in their tasks, they are able to work faster. Manufacturers no longer need to hire artisan-level workers to complete a task.
Because these workers are less skilled individually, they demand lower wages than those who are skilled, allowing a manufacturer to gain a greater margin on their products (Francois, 1990).
6. Higher Wages
Although the division of labor can lead to the hiring of lower-skilled and lower-paid workers, the wages of each of these workers can increase as a result of this process. When workers are able to perfect their technique and work more quickly, their value to the company increases.
In addition, as companies experience increased productivity and profitability, they can afford to share these gains with their employees in the form of higher wages (Francois, 1990).
7. Innovation
Additionally, the division of labor can lead to a greater variety of products being produced. This is because each worker is specialized in a particular task and so can contribute to the production of a range of different products.
This greater capacity to create different types of goods incentivizes manufacturers to develop a broader range of goods, increasing competition and, ultimately, innovation (Francois, 1990).
Disadvantages of Division of Labor
1. boredom from repetition.
When workers are assigned the same task day in and day out, they can become bored. This is a particular problem when the task is simple and does not require much thought or skill.
Boredom can lead to absenteeism and turnover as workers seek out jobs that are more stimulating.
For example, factory workers who are tasked with performing the same monotonous job — like screwing in the same screw to the same part of a toy — day after day often suffer from boredom and apathy.
This can lead to low productivity and poor quality products. Marx called this lack of a feeling of meaning from work as a result of its repetition alienation.
2. Interdependence and dependence
The division of labor can also create dependence on others. When workers are assigned specific tasks, they become experts in those tasks.
However, this can make them reliant on other workers to complete other tasks outside of their area of expertise (Schoenberger, 1988).
For example, suppose a worker is only responsible for putting the finishing touches on a product. In that case, they will be dependent on other workers to complete all the prior steps in the manufacturing process.
If one of these workers is absent or does not do their job properly, it will disrupt the entire production process, and the final product will be of poor quality.
The division of labor can also limit opportunities for advancement. When workers are assigned specific tasks, they become experts in those tasks. However, this can make it difficult for them to move into other positions within the company that require different skills.
For example, a worker who is skilled in assembling a particular type of widget may not have the skills necessary to design or sell the widget. As a result, their career path may be limited, and they may never have the opportunity to earn a higher salary or improve their position within the company.
When they no longer work for the company they were trained for, they may find that their hyper specialized skills are not transferable elsewhere (Schoenberger, 1988).
3. Lack of Responsibility
When each person is just a small cog in a large machine, they can feel like their work is not important. This can lead to a lack of motivation and a feeling of disconnection from the company’s goals.
When a task fails, it becomes time-consuming to find out where exactly the line made the error. This simultaneously allows workers to take little responsibility for their lack of effort (Schoenberger, 1988).
When one person produces an output, it is easy to measure and compare their work against others. When many people work on the same task, however, it is difficult to compare outputs and identify which workers are not working as hard as they could be (Schoenberger, 1988).
The Assembly Line
One of the most famous examples of division of labor is Henry Ford’s assembly line for mass-producing cars. Ford’s innovation was to break down the process of assembling a car into smaller, more manageable tasks.
In fact, he divided his car manufacturing process into 84 distinct steps. Each worker on the assembly line was responsible for completing just one task, such as putting on the tires or adding the seats.
This division of labor meant that each worker could become an expert in their particular task, and it also reduced the time it took to assemble a car (Royston, 2015).
This increased efficiency allowed Ford to reduce his retail prices from $850 ($25000 USD in 2022) to $300 ($9,000 USD in 2022).
While the assembly line increased efficiency and productivity, it also had some drawbacks. The workers on the assembly line often found their jobs boring and repetitive, as they had little control over the production process.
As a result, many workers left Ford’s factories to find other work and even striked.
Many other businesses replicated Ford’s assembly line, division of labor model — including those in the food, garment, and electronics industries.
In the modern garment industry, for example, one worker may be responsible for cutting the fabric, another worker may be responsible for sewing the pieces together, and another worker may be responsible for adding the buttons or zippers.
This allocation allows for the more efficient production of goods across almost every industry (Boyce, 2021).
Domestic (Gendered) Division of Labor
The gendered division of labor is the allocation of tasks between men and women based on gender norms. This type of division of labor often results in women taking on more domestic responsibilities, such as cooking, cleaning, and child care.
In contrast, men are often seen as the breadwinners and are expected to work outside the home in paid employment.
While the gendered division of labor has changed over time, it is still a common practice in many households.
In fact, research suggests that women spend approximately twice as much time on domestic tasks as men (Baxter, 2002). This unequal distribution of labor often results in women having less leisure time and fewer opportunities to engage in paid employment.
As a result, the gendered division of labor can reinforce gender inequality.
Sociologists have argued that there is a narrowing of the gender gap in the domestic division of labor .
Young and Wilmott (2013) argue that this is because more women are in paid work, and families became more symmetrical as both men and women needed to tend to children.
Another reason for this narrowing is the ‘commercialization of housework.’ Washing machines, cleaning devices, and fridge-freezers have reduced the amount of housework and the time needed to complete it.
The pandemic has also been thought to reduce the division of labor. In 2014-2015, women did an average of 1 hour and 50 minutes more housework and childcare than men, but this was reduced to 1 hour and 7 minutes more during lockdowns (ONS, 2020).
Baxter, J. (2002). Patterns of change and stability in the gender division of household labor in Australia, 1986–1997. Journal of Sociology, 38 (4), 399-424.
Boyce, P. (2021). Division of Labor Definition .
Crossman, A. (2019). The Division of Labor .
Durkheim, E. (1892). The division of labor in society . Free Pr.
ONS. (2020). Coronavirus and how people spent their time under lockdown: 28 March to 26 April 2020
Francois, J. F. (1990). Producer services, scale, and the division of labor. Oxford Economic Papers, 42 (4), 715-729.
Littek, W. (2001). Labor, Division of. in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences .
Royston, A. (2015). Henry Ford and the assembly line . The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Schoenberger, E. (1988). Multinational corporations and the new international division of labor: A critical appraisal. International Regional Science Review, 11 (2), 105-119.
Smith, A. (1776). Wealth of Nations .
Young, M., & Wilmott, P. (2013). Family and kinship in East London . Routledge.
What is the division of labor according to Durkheim?
The division of labor, according to Durkheim, is a key element in creating social cohesion and stability in complex societies, provided it is regulated and does not lead to extreme disparity and social disintegration.
Durkheim believed that as societies become more complex, the division of labor increases, which leads to the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity. This happens because as tasks become more specialized, people become more dependent on each other for their needs.
However, Durkheim also warned of the dangers of “anomie” ( a state of normlessness ), which could occur if the division of labor was unregulated, leading to social disorder and potential conflict.
According to Marx, the division of labor is a central aspect of capitalism and is closely linked to class struggle.
In Marx’s view, the division of labor creates a class hierarchy based on controlling the means of production. Those who own the means of production (the bourgeoisie or capitalist class ) have power over those who sell their labor (the proletariat or working class ).
This division of labor, Marx argued, leads to the alienation of workers as they do not have control over what they produce, how they produce it, or what happens to their products.
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The difference of natural talents in different men, is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown up to maturity, is not upon many occasions so much the cause , as the effect of the division of labour. The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education. When they came in to the world, and for the first six or eight years of their existence, they were, perhaps, very much alike, and neither their parents nor play-fellows could perceive any remarkable difference. About that age, or soon after, they come to be employed in very different occupations. The difference of talents comes then to be taken notice of, and widens by degrees, till at last the vanity of the philosopher is willing to acknowledge scarce any resemblance. But without the disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, every man must have procured to himself every necessary and conveniency of life which he wanted. All must have had the same duties to perform, and the same work to do, and there could have been no such difference of employment as could alone give occasion to any great difference of talents. …By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from a grey-hound, or a grey-hound from a spaniel, or this last from a shepherd's dog. Those different tribes of animals, however, though all of the same species are of scarce any use to one another…. The effects of those different geniuses and talents, for want of the power or disposition to barter and exchange , cannot be brought into a common stock, and do not in the least contribute to the better accommodation and conveniency of the species. Each animal is still obliged to support and defend itself, separately and independently, and derives no sort of advantage from that variety of talents with which nature has distinguished its fellows. Among men, on the contrary, the most dissimilar geniuses are of use to one another; the different produces of their respective talents, by the general disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occasion for .(Smith, 1991; Book I; emphasis added)
This Appalachian town declared itself the Sock Capital of the World for good reason. It began making stockings in 1907 and once boasted of producing 1 of every 8 pairs worn on the planet.…The Robin-Lynn Mills Inc. factory, for instance, owns some of the finest equipment in the business, electronic knitting machines from Italy that set the company back more than $25,000 apiece and can spin out a sock in 75 seconds, with the toe seam automatically sewn. But Robin-Lynn, whose employees typically earn about $10 an hour, didn't turn a profit last year. On the other hand, Three Star Socks in Datang, China, made about $500,000 using knitting machines worth $1,000 each and paying its workers an average of 60 cents to 70 cents an hour plus room and board. But this familiar story of an enormous difference in costs is only part of the tale of two sock makers and their two towns.
The civil magistrate is entrusted with the power not only of preserving the public peace by restraining injustice, but of promoting the prosperity of the commonwealth, by establishing good discipline, and by discouraging every sort of vice and impropriety; he may prescribe rules, therefore, which not only prohibit mutual injuries among fellow-citizens, but command mutual good offices to a certain degree. …Of all the duties of a law-giver, however, this, perhaps, is that which it requires the greatest delicacy and reserve to execute with propriety and judgment. To neglect it altogether exposes the commonwealth to many gross disorders and shocking enormities, and to push it too far is destructive of all liberty, security, and justice . ( TMS , Section II, Chapter 1)
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Division of labor essay.
The division of labor refers to the partitioning of work tasks between social groups, based on demographic characteristics such as race, sex, age, and social class. Responding to economist Adam Smith’s argument that the division of labor would lead to wealth for all, Karl Marx countered that the exploitation of the working classes would lead to alienation and revolution. According to Marx the bourgeoisie extracts surplus value from the proletariat to increase profitability and maintain a position of power.
Emile Durkheim believed that this partitioning of tasks is necessary to maintain the moral social order and cohesion between all social groups. Within simple societies with little cultural diversity, Durkheim claimed that the division of labor exhibits mechanical solidarity. Mechanical solidarity represents a division of labor where individuals perform identical tasks as their counterparts, making the society run smoothly. In advanced societies it is necessary to divide labor according to organic solidarity, meaning that workers perform specialty tasks to make their community function, like the organs in the human body.
Scientific management pioneer Frederick Winslow Taylor argued that work should be broken down to its simplest parts to maximize productivity. Taylor transformed manufacturing practices by simplifying work tasks, placing control of the labor process in the hands of management, and developing a model of production that inspired Henry Ford’s moving assembly line.
For millennia, labor has been divided according to demographic characteristics. Women and nonwhites have historically been barred entry into certain professions. Most sociological literature examines the sexual division of labor and how this favors male workers. This literature explores sex segregation in the workplace and why women and men are expected to perform different—and different levels of—uncompensated work in the home. Ruth Milkman highlighted the cultural underpinning of this sexual division of labor, a process that can shift rapidly according to the economic desires of male workers and management.
A final component of the division of labor is the distinction between economic sectors, especially service and manufacturing work. While some argue that developed nations are entering an era of postindustrial production centered on service provision, others point out that we are simply witnessing the emergence of a new, more complex global division of labor.
Bibliography:
- Durkheim, Emile. [1893] 1997. The Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press.
- Milkman, Ruth. 1987. Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex during World War II. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
- Reskin, Barbara. 1984. Gender at Work: Perspectives on Occupational Segregation and Comparable Worth. Washington, DC: Women’s Research and Education Institute of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.
- Taylor, Frederick Winslow. [1911] 1998. The Principles of Scientific Management. Mineola, NY: Dover.
- Tucker, Robert, ed. 1978. The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: Norton.
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Division of Labor
Division of labor involves the segmentation of the work process into various stages, where each person or employee focuses on a specific task in the production process. Adam Smith initially coined this process in 1776 (Pettinger, 2017). He famously used the pin factory as an example. He realized a vast increase in production efficiency since employees were split up and assigned specific tasks to produce a pin. He saw the segmentation of functions as a catalyst of economic progress as goods would be produced cheaply more efficiently. Division of labor is a famous concept in mass production systems and is a primary organizing assembly line principle. This paper will dwell on the essentiality of the division of labor and the various ways it results in efficient production.
How important is the division of labor to a capitalist economy?
Over the last 200 years, the capitalist, or industrialist, economic structure has revolutionized the physical world in unique ways. Poverty, the typical form of almost all of humanity, is gradually being alleviated from people’s shoulders in the Western world and across the globe (Support, n.d.). Yet, uncontrolled economy progressivism’s reflexes continue, including that employment in the entrepreneurial economy is not viewed with dignity, decency, or consideration. Nothing could be farther from the truth. During the ancient days, those not killed in the war were held in subjugation and forced to work, making work lack poise and admiration. This began to alter with the slow growth of a liberal private enterprise. Emerging business sector ties broadened the horizons for the employee, the expert, or the traveling seller to find customers outside the aristocrat’s sphere. Losing the approval and good graces of the crown estate ruler does not yet imply starvation, difficulties, real punishment, or a failure to produce money.
The repercussions are that everyone should walk toward their kindred individuals and express an interest in their assistance in some way that benefits others. An individual can try to persuade or provide something as a sufficiently appealing trade-off that other people will genuinely want to accomplish what is demanded of them. In any case, viciousness is removed from the human situation to the greatest extent practicable for a free society to function well (Support, n.d.). Division of labor generates a growing awareness of the poise of all actual and persevering labor, regardless of the task being accomplished. Because every line in the market structure of specialization targets a work, task, or deed that is needed and deemed worthwhile to complete; otherwise, it would not have been done and paid for (Boyce, 2021). Private entities and individuals owning capital goods associated with labor division are the economic stimuli that a capitalist economy needs for economic progress.
How does the division of labor lead to more efficient production?
Division of labor is a crucial element for efficient manufacture for various reasons. Workers require less training since mastery of skills takes less time as the number of tasks being mastered is small. Division of labor enables workers to only master a part of production that they are interested in, which quickens the learning process and saves time (Pettinger, 2017). When new employees join a firm, training them on a specific task is much quicker. For example, an employee at a bank will be more efficient when he focuses on credit provision rather than a package of functions. Using one tool to perform a particular task leads to efficiency in production. This enables employees to have immense mastery at using this tool; the speed of completing their specific job is high. The production process will be smooth given that each employee is working with undeniable experience and speed.
Efficient allocation of workers refers to their roles in the production process. A single-stage process could have been disintegrated into a five-stage process with individual parts. This allows employees to specialize, implying that the production process will be efficient as each will focus on the role that best fits them. Rather than being a jack of trades, each employee will become a master on one. Time-saving is another factor that must be present for a production process to be deemed efficient. With the division of labor and specialization, workers do not have to use different tools, neither do they have to move around the factory with a half-baked product. The product comes to them, and the completion time is quite remarkable as they have repeated the same process repeatedly, hence spending less time producing it, thus production efficiency (Pettinger, 2017).
What are some examples of division of labor and specialization from your personal experiences?
Aircraft mechanics are responsible for maintaining, diagnosing, and repairing aircraft and are critical to flight safety. Because of the industry’s extensive range of aircraft and sophisticated systems, there are several various types of airplane mechanics, each with its own set of skills. This field’s mechanics specialize in a specific system or aircraft. Airframe and powerplant mechanics are general practitioners, but they are also in charge of regular servicing on all aircraft parts. A&P mechanics must assess the aircraft’s wear – and tear using x-rays or ultrasonic devices since they are in charge of routine maintenance. They must be familiar with the type of aircraft and have a strong eye for detail; detecting corrosion and cracks are just a few things that they watch out for. The above summarizes various mechanics’ duties, leading to efficiency and careful calibration of aviation safety.
Boyce. (2021, February 8). Division of Labor (Advantages, Disadvantages, and Examples) – BoyceWire . Boycewire.com. https://boycewire.com/division-of-labor-definition/
Pettinger, T. (2017, January 3). Division of Labour – Economics Help . Economics Help. https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/division-of-labour/
Support, A. A. (n.d.). The Important of Division of Labor To A Capitalist Economy – All Assignment Support . Https://Allassignmentsupport.com/Blog/. https://allassignmentsupport.com/blog/the-important-of-division-of-labor-to-a-capitalist-economy/
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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Emile Durkheim — The Division of Labor: Social Solidarity by Emilie Durkheim
The Division of Labor: Social Solidarity by Emilie Durkheim
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Durkheim Introduces the Division of Labour
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Essay on division of labor.
Division of labor refers to the separation or fragmentation of tasks, duties or, roles distributed among different individuals or groups within a social system. The assignment of task may range from an individual having a specialized function to a group performing the same job. In sociology, division of labor is regarded as a vital part of social order. That is, division of tasks enables the social to exist and act coherently and organically. Hence, it promotes both order and social solidarity. There are numerous, and oftentimes opposing, perspectives about this concept; and three of the main theories that surrounds the idea of division of labor includes that of Emilie Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Adam Smith.
Adam Smith’s conception of division of labor involves mainly its benefit for the industrial capitalist market. More particularly, he sees this process of dividing task as a positive source of productiveness, which results to numerous economic advantages. In An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes Wealth of Nations, Smith (2008) notes that “the greatest improvements in the productive powers of labor, and the greatest part of the skill, dexterity, and judgement… seem to have been the effects of the division of labor” (3). Such passage shows how Smith associates division of labor with increased productivity and, ultimately economic reward. For him, division of labor involves the process of breaking down a large task into various tiny components. Under this process, each worker is assigned to perform a specific job, which in turn, allows him to become an expert in one area of production. The fact that a laborer do not have to switch responsibilities during the day saves time, money, and effort. And as a result, it increases the probability of efficiency, productivity, and of course, greater profit. Smith explains this concept further by giving an example of a single worker who has a limited capacity to produce pins. On the other hand, he asserts that the same product can be produced with much greater number if the task is taken apart to various components and performed by numerous workers.
Surprisingly, Smith also recognizes the potential problem of this set-up. He pointed out that forcing individuals to perform the same mundane routine everyday would cause the workers to become not only ignorant but dissatisfied as well. For this very reason, Smith proposed a revolutionary belief that it is the government’s responsibility to provide education to the work force. He maintains that education could counteract the negative effects of a factory set-up. Instead, education will help an individual recognize a job that suits him best.
While division of labor is crucial to the economic growth of a society. Smith insists that such process was not the effect of any human foresight or knowledge. Instead, he asserts that it is developed out of necessity and the human’s natural propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for the other” (Smith 13). Smith argues that this propensity, in particular, is trait that could be found in humans alone. And it has subsequently enabled him to realize the idea of self-interest.
Much like Smith, Karl Marx agrees to the notion that division of labor is a vital part of capitalism. However, he disagrees on the positive benefits that this process brings. Marx explains that in order for the process of division of labor to become effective, it is necessary to have numerous worker under the control of one capitalist who will then assign a specific task them. Marx argues that division of labor results to alienation which refers to work no longer being a product of an individual’s own labor. He believes that the laborer is transformed by the manufacturing process primarily because he has no choice but to lose his identity in order for him to fit into his job. Hence, he states that “the worker is brought face to face with the intellectual potentialities of the material process of production as the property of another and as a power which rules over him” (Harvey 186).
Accordingly, Marx maintain that the effect of a growing division of labor is that people becomes less skilled as they are only able to perform one specific task. This in turn, prevents them from being autonomous and ultimately more dependent on the capitalist who has more leverage. Ultimately, Marx sees division of labor as a means of social control. While the process brings about efficiency and productivity, he asserts that division of labor specifically and exclusively benefits the capitalist. Marx further explains that such process creates a surplus value, but at the expense of the laborers. In the same way, he acknowledges that while it is a necessary part of social progress, it is also an avenue to exploit workers.
Emilie Durkheim similarly views division of labor in the lens of Smith. That is, he believes that such process is also a trait of an industrial capitalist society. But unlike Smith who believes that division of labor is a result of necessity, Durkheim asserts that it is a natural law that governs all biological organisms in general. Under this conception, the French sociologist explains the manner in which individuals cooperated ultimately determines how the process of division of labor runs smoothly.
It is in here that he coins the idea of mechanical and organic solidarity. Durkheim explains that mechanical solidarity refers to small societies with minimal division of labor and is based on similarity and collective conscience. Durkheim explains that under this type of solidarity, people operated based on ties, kinship, and familial networks. On the other hand, organic solidarity involves larger societies and is the exact opposite of the former. Under this concept, people become interdependent with one another, and at the same time also increasingly different. According to him, such differences and interdependence comes from the specialization of work as well as how each task is reliant on another. This, Durkheim argues, results into their inability to share the same world view as well as practice solidarity. Based on this context, Durkheim is particularly concerned with how the process of division of labor changes how people feel and how they view society as a whole. She explains that while division of labor, when practiced in small group, is meaningful, its effects weaken as the group becomes larger. In other words, organic solidarity weakens a society’s collective conscience.
In contemporary society, division of labor is very much apparent on the factory system that many industrial countries practice. Similar to Smith’s perspective, this process enables greater economic benefits in a sense that it results to efficiency and greater productivity. However, similar to what Marx and Durkheim point out, division of labor also has its evils. More particularly, such process has promoted inequality in the society. Rather than being a process that fosters solidarity, division of labor has become a form of social control used by the capitalists over the workers. Coming from the point of view of Marx, the identity of the workers become lost all for the sake of minimal profit. What is even interesting to point out is that many of these workers do not realize that they are being exploited and that their identities are being eradicated by the routine exerted by such process. The routine, therefore, suppresses one’s imagination, which makes the person comparable to a machine. In the same way, Durkheim makes an excellent point about the detrimental effects of this process. In fact, he points that that while such process may yield economic advantages, this benefits, “are insignificant compared with the moral effects that it produces” (17).
To sum, division of labor is a sociological concept which has a variety of meaning and effects. At one point, sociologists such as Smith, Marx, and Durkheim believe that this process is a vital part of social growth and progress. Along with these progresses however, are the detrimental effects of this process. That is, it may bring about discontentment among workers, become a tool of control and exploitation, and at the same time, it weakens a society’s collective conscience.
Works Cited
Durkheim, Emilie. Division of Labor in Society. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997
Harvey, David. A Companion to Marx’s Capital. New York: Verso Books, 2010
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York:
BiblioBazaar, 2008
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Division of Labor
11 Jun 2022
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Introduction
The issue of labor division came up with the advent of industries during the Industrial Revolution. Understanding the way labor was divided in the course of the Industrial Revolution requires a look at some of the historical content presented in books and movies. It is important to understand that division of labor normally leads to simplification of roles in a company. This fact was evident during the Industrial Revolution. As the employers divided labor, functions became simplified. In this specific essay, the issue of labor division during the Industrial Revolution is analyzed. The paper involves looking at the way the concept is represented in a movie. This concept is best represented by The Mill , which gives the role of labor in the society during the Industrial Revolution.
Das Kapital as it relates to The Mill
Das Kapital is a concept in philosophy that relates to political economy. It explains the economic patterns that underpin the capitalist mode of production. Really in Das Kapital, the motivation force behind capitalism is the blatant exploitation of labor with the unpaid work being the main source of surplus value (Sabel, 1982). In this specific case, the owner of the means of production, who is the employer, claims the right to this surplus value because of the protection such a person enjoys from the ruling regime through property rights. Das Kapital is a concept that simply explains the exploitation of the poor by the elites who control the whole economy.
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The concept of Das Kapital is best reflected in the film, The Mill . In this specific film, poor workers in a factory are seen being subjected to long hours of labor and poor pay. The owners of the mill subject them to long hours of labor, but the kind of compensation given to them is quite minimal and unable to sustain them. Capitalists will always ensure that the poor workers spend all their time producing output for them. Moreover, they will ensure that the money paid to them cannot assist them much in terms boosting them economically. Moreover, the overtime worked by the poor laborers goes unpaid and is the main source of surplus value.
It is seen from this movie that the elite owners of the means of production provide even food and housing services to the workers in order to ensure that they do not get a lot of money. The poor payment given to these is said to be as a result of the money, which goes to fringe benefits like food and housing. Therefore, there is a quite strong relation between the movie The Mill and the concept of Das Kapital.
How The Mill represents division of labor in both industry and society
It is true that The Mill does strongly represent the division of labor in both industry and society. In both cases, the poor unskilled individuals often take up the hardest jobs in the company. The skilled professionals are the ones that end up with easy jobs. Paradoxically though, the poor unskilled who perform the hardest jobs in the companies as well as within the society are the ones that still get minimal payment. The highest pay goes to the professional workers who even just sit in the offices without any sweat on their faces.
This kind of labor division in both the society and the industries is represented in the movie, The Mill . In this movie, the poor and unskilled women and men are the ones subjected to tough, hard and injurious jobs within the factories. However, there are professionals who just sit in the offices and get the highest payment for their sitting. Moreover, they are the ones that take the praise when production is high despite the fact that they do not participate in the actual production manual work.
What you think is missing or could be improved on in either source
Although the movie, The Mill, best represents the nature of labor division in the society and within industries, there is room for its improvement so that it an strong show the nature of capitalism and its disadvantages. This movie should have also included scenes that show what people miss because of capitalism. The movie should have sought to juxtapose capitalism against classical approach to political economy so that viewers can clearly understand the opportunity cost of developing and entrenching capitalism.
Conclusion
The labor division approach of the Industrial Revolution was basically capitalist in nature. The owners of production means had immense ties and protection from the government. They, therefore, perpetuated unfair exploitation of poor unskilled workers to build vast surplus value. This issue is best represented in the movie, The Mill . It is evident from the movie that in such a capitalist political economy, the poor always remain poorer while the elites continue to amass more wealth as they grow richer.
References
Melany, R. (2013). The Mill. YouTube . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbIC0sVnRbU&t=285s .
Sabel, C. F. (1982). Work and politics: the division of labour in industry . Cambridge University Press.
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