Blue-Collar Work(ers)

Son asırda teknoloji alanında yaşanan gelişmeler, teknolojik değişim ve dönüşümün yanı sıra sosyolojik ve psikolojik alan da pek çok değişim ve dönüşüme sebep olmuştur. İşgücü ve meslekler ise bu alanların başında gelmektedir. Sanayi 4.0 ve Toplum 5.0 gibi kavramlar ile özdeşleştirilen dijital dönüşümün bugün çalışma hayatı ve meslekleri dönüştürdüğü, önümüzdeki yıllarda ise bu dönüşümün etkilerinin daha da artarak devam edeceği öngörülmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı dijital dönüşümün işgücü ve meslekler üzerindeki etkilerini Türkiye açısından genel bir perspektif ile ortaya koyabilmektir. Bu maksatla alan yazınında dijital dönüşümün iş gücü ve geleceğin meslekleri üzerindeki etkileri üzerine yapılan çalışmalar betimsel bir yaklaşımla incelenmiştir. Bu inceleme neticesinde Sanayi 4.0 ile ilişkilendirilen ileri teknolojilerin çalışma hayatını hızla dönüştürdüğü görülmektedir. Önümüzdeki 5-10 yıl içerisinde daha da hızlanacağı öngörülen bu dönüşümün birtakım mesleklerin ortadan kalkmasına, pek çok yeni mesleğin de ortaya çıkmasına sebep olacağı ifade edilmektedir. Araştırmanın ilk bölümünde endüstri 4.0 ve toplum 5.0 gibi dijital dönüşümün tetikleyicisi ekosistemleri ele alınmıştır. İkinci bölümde dünya ve Türkiye'de dijitalleşmenin şu anki mevcut durumu değerlendirilmiştir. Sonrasında, iş gücü ve meslekler üzerindeki etkileri tartışılmıştır. Araştırmanın son bölümünde ise dijital dönüşüm sebebi ile ortadan kalkması öngörülen meslekler ile gelecek yıllarda yaygınlaşması beklenen meslekler ve bu meslekleri icra edecek adayların sahip olması gereken yetkinlikler değerlendirilerek önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

BHS: Cilj rada je identificiranje kriminalnih aktivnosti tipičnih za ''bijele ovratnike'', uz sociodemografska i psihološka obilježja ove grupe zaposlenika-počinitelja. Pregledom literature i statističkih podataka, utvrđeno je da su počinitelji ove vrste obično: oženjeni muškarci četrdesetih godina koji pripadaju bjelačkoj populaciji, i to visoke inteligencije i socioekonomskog statusa; narcisoidni oportunisti, utilitaristi, hedonisti, te osobe sklone manipulaciji i pretjeranom upravljanju dojmovima o sebi. Ove osobe nerijetko spadaju u grupu emocionalno stabilnih ekstraverata, koji većinom pokazuju otvorenost za nova iskustva. Pored toga, sebe percipiraju kao savjesne osobe. Različite su kriminalne radnje za koje ovi počinitelji odgovaraju pred zakonom: podmićivanje, pronevjere, falsificiranje, prevare, utaje poreza... Kriminalci iz grupe ''bijelih ovratika'' najčešće su motivirane pohlepom, korištenjem prilike koja im se ukazala, sviješću da ih je teško uhvatiti i uvjerenjem da posjeduju sposobnosti i vještine potrebne za određenu prevaru. Za njih je karakteristično korištenje racionalizacije i neutralizacije, kao mehanizama opravdavanja svojih nedjela. Natjecateljska, nemilosrdna organizacijska klima i toleriranje etički upitnih taktika poslovanja mogu ih dodatno motivirati za vršenje nedozvoljenih aktivnosti.

ENG: The aim of the article is identifying criminal activities that are typical of ''white collar workers'', along with the socio-demographic and psychological characteristics of this group of employees. On the basis of review of the literature and statistical data, it was found that theseperpetrators areusually: married men in theirforties who belong to the white population, with high intelligence levels and socioeconomic status; narcissistic opportunists, utilitarians, hedonists; and people prone to manipulation and impression management in favor of themselves. These individuals often belong to the group of emotionally stable extraverts, which mostly show openness to new experiences. In addition, they perceive themselves as conscientious persons. There are various criminal activities on the grounds of which these perpetrators are prosecuted: bribery, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, tax evasion... ''White collar'' criminals are often motivated by greed, using the opportunity that was offered to them, the awareness that it is hard to catch them, and the conviction that they have the ability and skills necessary for a specific fraud. They typically use rationalization and neutralization, as mechanisms to justify their misdeeds. Competitive, ruthless organizational climate, and tolerance to ethically questionable business tactics may further motivate them to carry out this kind of illicit activities.

When one thinks about culture, jumping immediately to thoughts of differing countries or nations is often commonplace.  This makes sense as these groups of people divided both geographically or by simple theoretical boundaries and labels creates distinct differences in culture passed from one generation to the next and manifested in its people.  Going beyond this routine or default definition and further considering the broader definition of culture (Culture, n.d.), this paper sets out to examine the cultural implications of intelligences between two social classes: blue-collar and white-collar workers.

This study examined the occupational narratives told by underground iron ore miners. Stories were identified by using Brown’s (1990) criteria for organizational stories (sense of temporality, story grammar, relevance for membership, and ring of truth), thematically analyzed to detect major themes (Owen, 1984), and examined to identify the functions that the stories served.

The root theme of the miners’ stories was sisu, a Finnish word that translates to inner determination. Their stories served the function of rejecting the dominant, white-collar discourse surrounding issues of work: rejection of the dominant conception of blue-collar careers, rejection of the dominant success story, and rejection of outsiders’ labeling of injustice. First, miners rejected the white-collar conception that blue-collar workers do not have choice in their careers. They told stories about their work ethic being widely recognized, which they used to identify choice in their careers. Second, miners rejected the dominant definition of success that is based on monetary achievement and promotions within the organizational hierarchy. The miners created cultural heroes and counter-heroes based on the existence or lack of qualities of sisu. These characters provided role models that workers could emulate to achieve success. Third, miners rejected the persistent labeling of their workplace as unjust by outsiders. They used stories of personal accountability and perseverance to recognize organizational justice within the workplace, even during times of tragedy.

During the recession of the early 1980s, the United States experienced a massive industrial downturn. More than 3 million blue-collar jobs permanently vanished from the economic landscape, altering the structure and availability of once-viable career paths. Therefore, the goal of this project was to learn about the experiences of the sons and daughters of blue-collar workers who cannot follow in their parents’ footsteps, but instead must transition into careers in a postindustrial economy. Guided by life course theory, I interviewed 62 people—sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers—to determine how family-based communication about work and career both helped and hindered one cohort of “blue-collar kids” in their career transitions.

The research consisted of two phases, an archival phase and an interview phase. The archival research traced events of the recession (1979-1982), particularly as they related to industrial downturn in a small Michigan mining community. The interview-based research phase delved into the life courses of a cohort of individuals who came of age during that particular period of economic downturn. These individuals’ (and their parents’) work histories, family messages about work and career, and career and class identities, reveal several important insights into postindustrial career transitions.

First, the “kids’” and parents’ constructions of periods of economic downturn serve several notable purposes, including destigmatizing the experience of job loss, offering a viable model of lifetime employability, and backgrounding the politics of economic downturns. Second, family-based messages about work and career do not occur in straightforward, unambiguous memorable messages. Instead, communication about these issues—and ultimately communication about social class mobility and reproduction—emerges and comes to be understood through relational dialectics. Third, this cohort simultaneously must reconcile competing tensions between two macrolevel discourses that dictate, to an extent, how careers should unfold. On one hand, blue-collar kids are driven by the social mobility mandates of the American Dream and, on the other hand, are committed to upholding the values-based obligations of the Working Class Promise.

The findings contribute to the literature on organizational socialization, family communication, and career identities. The findings also are suggestive of several interventions for communities facing deindustrialization.

People generally possess a strong desire to construct positive, dignified work identities. However, this goal may be more challenging for some people, such as blue-collar workers, whose occupations may not offer qualities typically associated with workplace dignity. Interviews with 37 people from a blue-collar mining community reveal three central identity discourses about workplace dignity: All jobs are important and valuable; dignity is located in the quality of the job performed; and dignity emerges from the way people treat and are treated by others. Participants communicated these themes by backgrounding their own occupations and drawing comparisons between two outgroups, low-status, low-paid dirty workers and high-prestige, white-collar professionals. Implications for understanding how identity work is negotiated and for managing a blue-collar workforce are explained.

Углубление социального неравенства, которое автор связывает с глобальным распространением неолиберализма, усложняет систему властных отношений между мужскими телами и сексуальностями и ведет к дифференциации типов маскулинности. На материале 43 биографических интервью переосмысляются властные отношения внутри двух социально-профессиональных сред — так называемых синих и белых воротничков. Автор приходит к выводу, что через регулирование телесности сфера труда управляет эмоциональными отношениями и, как следствие, сексуальной жизнью мужчин из обеих групп. Наряду с этим режимы производственного и офисного труда генерируют разные логики управления мужской телесностью, которые воспроизводятся в приватной сфере и используются для создания мужской субъективности.
Основным ресурсом конституирования мужественности для рабочих служат физическая сила и умения, тогда как для офисных клерков — телесная репрезентация и перформанс. Следствием дифференциации в структуре труда становится неравенство возможностей создать «успешный» маскулинный субъект. Мужчины-рабочие называют себя «неудачниками», в то время как служащие считают себя «состоятельными», хотя и те и другие в равной степени выступают объектами эксплуатации. Телесный труд рабочего отчуждается в процессе управления телами на производстве, тогда как тело офисного клерка коммодифицируется и превращается в знак в системе символического обмена. Вместе с тем результаты исследования свидетельствуют о размывании средовых границ и ослаблении классового сознания, что позволяет мужчинам — рабочим и офисным служащим — применять сходные сексуальные стратегии, различающиеся лишь по форме и стилю. Маскулинная субъективность синих и белых воротничков включает одни и те же компоненты традиционной, либеральной и новой мужественности, которые отличаются по способам и формам выражения.

The U.S. (United States) would not be the first country we would think of when it comes to social classes.  Traditionally, this discussion would involve countries like Great Britain, India and China where class systems are defined by birth and wealth.  But with that said, there is a level of social stratification that can be applied to the U.S. population.  Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2013) state; “A number of different set of classes have been proposed to describe the United States.  We will use the one developed by Coleman and Rainwater.  In their system …. , the upper class (14 percent) is divided into three groups primarily by differences in occupation and social affiliations.  The middle class (70 percent) is divided into a middle class (32 percent) of average-income white- blue-collar workers living in better neighborhoods and a working-class (38 percent) of average-income blue-collar workers who lead a “working-class lifestyle.”  The lower class (16 percent) is divided into two groups, one living just above the poverty level and the other visibly poverty-stricken” (p. 130).

A bevándorlási törvény reformjára vonatkozó javaslatot a japán országgyűlés 2018 decemberében fogadta el. Az új törvény lehetővé teszi, hogy a következő öt évben – 2019 áprilisától kezdődően – 345.150 külföldi vállalhasson munkát az országban. A rendelet azonban országszerte ellenérzést váltott ki. A jelen elemzés célja, hogy – a japán belpolitikában kialakult vitához kapcsolódóan – az intézkedés árnyoldalaira világítson rá: megkérdőjelezi annak gazdasági racionalitását, és a japán munkavállalókat érintő negatív hatásaira is figyelmeztet. Továbbá kitér a multikulturalizmus azon veszélyeire, amelyeket az új politika eredményezhet a japán társadalmon belül.

Kei Hakata angol nyelvű elemzése

Purpose: This study has been performed to evaluate the mental status of the blue-collar women and housewives in Honaz district, Denizli.

Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 110 women working in a textile factory and 110 housewives aged 20-59 in Honaz district were compared in terms of mental health. Data of the study were collected through face to face interview method in December 2012. The first part of the questionnaire contains socio-demographic and cultural data, information about family and household, work life and lifestyle, the second part was 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) which was developed by Goldberg. GHQ scoring 2 and above is considered mental health distress. Chi-square and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the contributing factors of mental health.

Results: A total of 220 women including 110 female worker and 110 housewive participated in the study, 68.2% of female worker and 92.7% of housewives were 30 years and above. According to GHQ scoring, mental health distress prevalence of women workers and housewives was 43.6% and 50.0%, respectively and there was no significant difference. Low educational level, older age, being single and presence of people with disabilities at home were found to be independent risk factors.

Conclusion: This study revealed that there is no significant difference in terms of mental health distress among blue-collar women and housewives. Mental disorders are common health problems in both groups.

Key words: Mental status of women workers and housewives.

Son asirda teknoloji sahasinda yasanan gelismeler, teknolojik degisim ve donusumun yani sira sosyolojik ve psikolojik sahada da pek cok degisim ve donusume sebep olmustur. Isgucu ve meslekler ise bu sahalarin basinda gelmektedir. Sanayi 4.0 ve Toplum 5.0 gibi kavramlar ile ozdeslestirilen dijital donusumun bugun calisma hayati ve meslekleri donusturdugu, onumuzdeki yillarda ise bu donusumun etkilerinin daha da artarak devam edecegi ongorulmektedir. Bu calismanin amaci dijital donusumun isgucu ve meslekler uzerindeki etkilerini Turkiye acisindan genel bir perspektif ile ortaya koyabilmektir. Bu maksatla alan yazininda dijital donusumun is gucu ve gelecegin meslekleri uzerindeki etkileri uzerine yapilan calismalar betimsel bir yaklasimla incelenmistir. Bu inceleme neticesinde Sanayi 4.0 ile iliskilendirilen ileri teknolojilerin calisma hayatini hizla donusturdugu gorulmektedir. Onumuzdeki 5-10 yil icerisinde daha da hizlanacagi ongorulen bu donusumun birtakim mesleklerin ortadan kalkm...

Sociological evidence of deviant behaviours amongst insecure, un-unionised workers suggests that workers have the ability to challenge the organisational makeup of their workplaces. However, despite the prevalence of evidence, the focus on individual worker deviance has led many theorists to become concerned with the transformational and political potential of such behaviour. More specifically, concerns are raised as to whether deviance can affect a political struggle or whether it should be relegated to a more personal coping mechanism. If such deviance is relegated to personal, rather than political dimensions, the problem emerges whereby workers engage in a kind of ‘decaf resistance’ (Contu, 2008) whereby their behaviour only succeeds in reproducing the same conditions they are already subject to.

In order to evaluate this problem, this thesis explores the formation of responsibility amongst cohorts of workers. By analysing responsibility, this thesis examines the social and political factors that oblige and direct individual behaviour as well as situating these responses within a wider organisational praxis of insecure work. Key research questions in this thesis are: how do workers respond to insecurities at work, and how are these responses shared with colleagues? This investigation into the subject of responsibility allows deviant behaviours to be assessed as a sociopolitical product of work rather than as a personal response to work.

The empirical research was conducted across five large, centrally organised worksites in Brisbane, Australia. Cohorts of six workers from each worksite were interviewed privately and off-site. Cohorts were selected from each site according to their status as casual or non-permanent employees, who were subject to procedural management with hourly (quantifiable) key performance indicators (KPIs). Interview questions were organised around workers’ daily responsibilities with a particular emphasis placed on obligations that deviated from managerial protocols.

Findings from the research show that conceptualisations of ‘smart work’ were shared across the cohorts of workers. The findings detail how worker strategies of ‘cutting corners’, ‘gaming the numbers’, and avoiding work were learnt behaviours that workers taught each other in the worksite. Moreover, the findings suggest that such practices of ‘smart work’ were not just sufficient but necessary to the wider functioning of the work environment; if workers were not ‘smart’ they were likely to be exploited by management.

I argue key themes from the findings reflect anarchistic predispositions towards mutual cooperation and self-organisation. Paramount to this discussion is the role of anarchistic responsibilities that favour strategies of direct action, decentralisation, and a non-hierarchical approach amongst the workers interviewed. While it is clear that ‘smart work’ continues to reproduce the labour process, I argue that these results highlight an element of informal collectivity that is absent from previous investigations into deviance and misbehaviour. I argue that such collectivity and mutual selforganisation demonstrate a sociological and transformational aspect of worker deviance that can be linked to wider discussions of political resistance.

This study explicitly links processes of anticipatory socialization to social mobility and reproduction. An examination of the socializing messages exchanged between blue-collar parents (n = 41) and their children (n = 25) demonstrate that family-based messages about work and career seldom occur in straightforward, unambiguous ways. Instead, messages take several paths (direct, indirect, ambient, and omission). Further, the content of messages communicated along these paths often is contradictory. That is, sons and daughters receive messages that both encourage and discourage social mobility. Ultimately, these individuals must negotiate the meanings of family-based anticipatory socialization communicated to them through a mix of messages.

An analysis of interviews with mining families reveals that gender identity construction is a collaborative process that draws upon broader community discourses. Male miners and non-mining women created a generalized other for women as “unfit to mine” (i.e., women are physically too weak to mine, are easy prey, and are ladies who do not belong in the mines). Female miners responded with gendered discourses that distanced themselves from and linked themselves to the generalized other.

The aim of the paper is to present the results of a survey of railroad employees’ motivation for a healthy lifestyle. For this purpose a specific questionnaire was developed. The study was performed on 245 Slovene railroad workers (168 of them blue-collar ones). The great majority (66.9%) were found to be overweight or obese (BMI 25 or more), with no significant difference between blue- and white-collar workers. The great majority of them were in general aware of having unhealthy nutrition and an unhealthy lifestyle. Most of the employees felt the need to improve (at least in part) their nutrition (74.7%) and lifestyle (78.0%); the majority (67.8%) also declared that they could adopt a healthier lifestyle despite the constraints of everyday life and work conditions; however, 57.6% said that they had been already putting considerable effort into a healthier nutrition and lifestyle. Thus the effort needed to overcome constraints toward a healthier lifestyle seems to be the key problem...

Many employees are frustrated with the nature of employment. But some fed-up workers are asking a bigger question: what’s the purpose of work? But some people are going further, wondering aloud if there’s purpose to their work – or the economic system itself. These people are part of the ‘anti-work’ movement, which seeks to do away with the economic order that underpins the modern workplace. Anti-work, which has roots in anarchist and socialist economic critique, argues that the bulk of today’s jobs aren’t necessary; instead, they enforce wage slavery and deprive workers of the full value of their output.
That doesn’t mean there would be no work, however. Supporters of the anti-work movement believe people should self-organise and labour only as much as needed, rather than working longer hours to create excess capital or goods.