Sociology

Blauner (1964) wanted to apply Marx’s concept of alienation to the workplaces of the 1950s, and considered how the impact of different technologies might have changed the experience of work. He compared four types of work place in terms of their levels of alienation (which he defined in terms of meaninglessness, self-estrangement, powerlessness and isolation). In ascending order of alienation, these were: craft production, machine-based factory work, automation and assembly plants. 679

Daniel Bell (1973) argued that technological developments in the late twentieth century had transformed the processes of production and consumption in Western societies. His argument that we are living in a ‘post-industrial society’ centred on the idea that there had been a shift from the production of goods to that of services; this brought about the rise of service occupations based upon the transfer of knowledge and information as a new commodity. 691-692

The authority of the nation state is challenged in the globalized world, by communications technologies such as the Internet, and by new social movements that cross national boundaries. Those movements concerned with environmental issues, such as Greenpeace, are global in scope, because they increase our awareness of environmental risks, universal values and human rights that affect people in every country. They also use the technologies of the global media to generate publicity and raise awareness. 653-654

A conventional view of the historical development of the family is that, in pre-industrial times, extended kinship networks were the norm as they provided more sources of labour, and that the nuclear family emerged with the rise of industrial society. However, Stone suggests that the nuclear family could be traced back as far as the sixteenth century, when people began to be more concerned with child-rearing and domestic life. 455

Globalization means the world becoming one large entity, through economic, political, cultural and social processes. For example, telecommunications technologies have shrunk the perceived distance between places, as we can talk to people on the other side of the world as easily as if they were in the next room. This creates an awareness of the world being one place, with (arguably) one culture. Other theorists have emphasized the emergence of organizations and political processes that cross national borders, extending the power of nation states to other countries. 623-624

Laqueur argued that men and women were not thought of as two separate sexes until the eighteenth century, following changes in social and political attitudes. Whereas the ‘one sex’ model focused on the similarities between male and female organs, the ‘two sex’ model focused on differences. This view was strengthened by the rise of scientific theories and biomedicine in the nineteenth century. 170-171

In the nineteenth century, municipal socialism led to the emergence of ‘managed cities’, whose services, utilities, and sometimes their design, were carefully planned with the population in mind. Howard’s model comprised six self-sufficient ‘garden cities’, each surrounded by a green belt and connected to a larger, central ‘social city’. The garden city had a small population, decentralized services, and an efficient system of public transport. 507-508

Although they were trained psychiatrists, Laing and Esterson became critical of the way in which mental illness was presumed to be an indication of pathology in the individual mind. Instead, they argued that what was seen as ‘madness’ was generated by bizarre patterns of interaction in the family, such as distorted communication. Symptoms of schizophrenia, in particular, could then be seen as a rational response of withdrawal to protect oneself. 136-137

Hochschild argued that emotions were not simply biologically driven but rather socially shaped in relation to cultural values. In the workplace, she said, people use techniques of ’emotional labour’ to induce or suppress feelings in order to perform the role expected of them. This can involve ’emotion work’, when people display their emotions in line with the norms and expectations of behaviour in that context. 145-147

The growing number of women entering paid employment has created changes in the household division of labour. Although many studies have found that women now carry a ‘double burden’ by continuing to do most of the housework alongside their paid work, men have become more involved in household tasks. Sullivan (2000) found a shift towards more egalitarian divisions of labour, particularly when men were unemployed or both partners worked full time. 476-478