Sociology

Sociology Study Guide

Peer interaction Good working conditions High wages Job security

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• Advancement opportunities To ensure worker satisfaction, some reforms have been instituted to aid in worker success. Those include: • Job enlargement: Attempts to overcome routine and fragmented job tasks by adding tasks and variety. • Job enrichment: Adds more tasks along with authority to allowworkers the opportunity touse their own discretion, initiative, and creativity. • Autonomous work groups: Allows a small group to complete an entire set of tasks for aproject by rotating jobs and participating in the job functions of recruiting, training, evaluating, and quality control. American Trends There are four major trends in the American workforce. They are: • Women in the labor market: Has been increasing since World War II. Improved gender equality, more single-parent households, and more career opportunities account for this increase. • Deindustrialization: The movement of blue-collar manufacturing jobs from the US as they are outsourced to other nations. • Service sector jobs: Helping to offset the decrease in manufacturing jobs, service jobs now outnumber them. • Flexible work systems: Needed to manufacture specialized, high-quality goods; it requires workers to be or become experts in several fields. Perspectives • Functionalist Perspective: For the functionalist, work is a necessary part of society. It integrates individuals and providesmeaningful social roles that help establish identities and meet needs. A strong economy contributes to the overall health of the society and it affects the other interdependent institutions. Economic problems like recessions and unemployment are dysfunctional and negatively impact the entire society. • Conflict Perspective: Conflict theorists focus on social inequality, social stratification, and employee alienation. They believe that most economic systems, and especially capitalism, are driven by power, greed, and the exploitationof the weak for the benefit of the powerful.

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