DK THE SOCIOLOGY BOOK

CULTURE AND IDENTITY 199

and worlds, and even re-create The age of simulation thus World than in Europe. There is no
ourselves in any shape or form begins with a liquidation of all longer a requirement for systems
online, in virtual worlds where we referentials—worse: by their or things to be rational, just to work
are invited to interact with other well, or be “operational.” We have
real/virtual people. artificial resurrection in created a hyper-reality that is, he
systems of signs. says, “the product of an irradiating
And herein lies the danger, says synthesis of combinatory models in
Baudrillard. Constructed realities Jean Baudrillard a hyperspace without atmosphere.”
can be built to maximize pleasure, We seem not to have noticed the
so they are far more appealing to us. Simulacra make sense of the fact that only robots can “live”
than reality. We are constructing world, even if this is at the cost of without an atmosphere.
utopias, because if you have the complex meaning. The world is
freedom to construct a world, why becoming ever more superficial. Some critical theorists, such
not aim at a utopia? But the utopia as US philosopher Douglass Kellner,
we are creating in our virtual The simulacra that make up our have criticized Baudrillard for
worlds is tantamount to death: we reality today have been constructed moving away from a Marxist
no longer want the real experience to immediately gratify our desires. interpretation of culture. Marxist
of something, but the experience of Baudrillard says that as virtual geographer David Harvey takes
being told about the experience of reality increases, our ideals and a similar stance, saying that
something—in such a way that it imaginations will recede. We Baudrillard is wrong to insist that
is hyperreal, or more real than real. accept what is given, just as we there is no reality behind the
For instance, we prefer to sit in a find it far easier to travel from image. Many theorists, however,
cinema and enjoy the hyperreal “Germany” to “France” in Disney including Canadians Arthur and
experience of a family reunion than Marilouise Kroker, praise his
go to one of our own. On screen it is celebration of postmodern culture
more colorful, noisy, and complete— and see his work as a vital guide
it seems “so true.” Our own lives to the cultural dangers of the
pale by comparison, except perhaps 21st century. As media ecologist
our virtual lives, on Facebook or Kenneth Rufo notes, Baudrillard is
elsewhere. Meanwhile, we sit, not “full of interesting things, and even
moving, looking at a screen. his misses... still pack a wallop.” ■

Too much information
According to Baudrillard, our reality
is now dictated by the incredible
amount of information that streams
into our lives from so many forms
of media. He says that, strangely,
although the real is disappearing,
“it is not because of a lack of it,
but an excess of it.” An excess
of information pouring into
our awareness puts an end to
information, he says, because we
drown in complexity, and reach for
the simple solution that is handed

In Disney World, US, countries such
as “China” are re-created. These virtual
models, says Baudrillard, are far more
appealing to Disney’s customers than
the world “outside.”

200

MODERN IDENTITIES
ARE BEING
DECENTERED

STUART HALL (1932–2014)

IN CONTEXT ...increasing awareness ...increasing awareness
and incidence of mixed of and identification
FOCUS ancestry, so no one nation
Cultural identity is seen as self-defining. with differing countries’
traditions, values,
KEY DATES and beliefs.
17th century “The self”
becomes a noun for the first Modern identity is no longer
time, gaining currency as an fixed, because it stems from...
idea worthy of investigation.
...a self-built “life story” ...a questioning of
1900s Max Weber says that that is no longer felt to be traditions and lifestyles
individuals act according to determined by class, race,
their subjective interpretations due to global
of the world. or gender. interconnections.

1920s G.H. Mead’s idea of I n the late 20th century, transforming modern societies,
symbolic interactionism sociologists began to speak fragmenting the cultural
examines the symbols that about a new “crisis of identity,” landscapes of class, gender,
allow people to communicate because identity—once seen as sexuality, ethnicity, race, and
to each other despite their a simple idea—was becoming nationality. These are the
subjective interpretations. increasingly hard to pin down. frameworks that we have
Professor Stuart Hall claims that traditionally relied upon to
1983 Anglo-American this is due to the way in which tell us who we are, both within
professor Benedict Anderson structural change has been society and as individuals.
says that national identity is
an “imagined community.”

2010 British sociologist
Mike Featherstone examines
self-driven identity change
through bodily transformations
such as cosmetic surgery.

CULTURE AND IDENTITY 201

See also: W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Roland Robertson 146–47 ■ David Held 170–71 ■ G.H. Mead 176–77 ■
Norbert Elias 180–81 ■ Erving Goffman 190–95 ■ Benedict Anderson 202–03 ■ Howard S. Becker 280–85

In modern cities different cultures transformed continuously places, histories, and traditions,
are thrown together. The more our according to the ways that it is and we are now faced with a range
lives are influenced by these diverse addressed or represented in society. of identities from which we can
cultural traditions, the less sense we This is a self in process, defined choose, when they appeal to us.
have of a fixed national identity. historically rather than biologically. Within the “discourse” (meanings
It contains contradictory identities system) of global consumerism,
Hall names three modern ideas that pull in different directions, the differences and cultural
of identity: the Enlightenment and only seems continuous or distinctions that are used to define
“self,” the sociological “self,” stable because of the narrative identity have become a kind of
and the postmodern “self.” The that each of us constructs about global currency. For example, jeans
Enlightenment sense of self ourselves (our “life story”). and sneakers—once associated
prevailed from the 17th to the early with “being American”—are now
20th centuries, and was held to be Detached identities just as much a part of being a
a complete, autonomous being: a Hall says that the rapid, continuous, young person in India or Kenya.
person was born with a firm inner and extensive change that began
“core” that unfolded with age, but to take place at the end of the 20th Where to the Afro-French
remained unchanged. century has added to a sense of philosopher Franz Fanon, black
instability. Traditions and social people were always defined as
In the 1920s, sociologists such practices are constantly examined, “other” to whites, Hall says that
as G.H. Mead suggested that challenged, and often transformed in the global arena, cultures are
identity is formed in relationship by new information stemming from thrown together “with each
with the environment and increased global interconnection. ‘Other’,” where that other is “no
“significant others,” who explain The global marketing of styles, longer simply ‘out there’ but also
and transmit the values, meanings, places, and images means they within.” People increasingly come
and symbols of the child’s world. pop up in every country, disrupting from a mixture of living spaces,
The self in this definition was still a traditional sense of fixed ancestry, and birthplaces, and are
seen as an inner core, but it could nationality and cultural identity. aware of internally holding a range
be modified by society, through of identities that may come to the
internalizing cultural values and This “mash up” of global culture fore at different times. This inner
meanings. This “interactionist” means that identities have become and outer diversity, Hall says, is the
view of the self, which bridges detached from specific times, force that is shaping our times. ■
the gap between the personal and
public worlds, became the classic Stuart Hall movement. He was a cofounder
sociological view of the self. of the Left Review in 1957,
Known as the “godfather of director of the Centre for
The postmodern self, on the multiculturalism,” Stuart Hall Contemporary Cultural Studies,
other hand, says Hall, has no stable was born into a Jamaican family Birmingham, UK, and in 1979,
inner core. It is not fixed in any that he says played out the a professor of sociology with the
way, but instead is formed and conflict between the local and Open University. He also worked
imperial (colonizing) context. with film-makers and artists on
His parents were from different black subjectivity.
social classes and from mixed
ancestry; Hall rebelled against Key works
their suggestions to play only
with “higher color” friends. 1979 The Great Moving
Right Show
In 1952, Hall went to Oxford 1980 Encoding/Decoding
University, England, and 1992 “The Question of
became a key figure in the Cultural Identity”
emerging New Left political

202

ALL COMMUNITIES
ARE IMAGINED

BENEDICT ANDERSON (1936– )

IN CONTEXT B efore the 16th century, the the idea of nationalism as a given:
idea of nationalism did not if you are born in a certain place,
FOCUS exist. It is a modern concept you have a certain nationality, just
Nationalism that we have imagined into being as you are born a particular gender.
and then convinced ourselves
KEY DATES that it has an immemorial past. Anderson’s book Imagined
1800 German philosopher These are the views of social Communities (1983) questions
Johann Fichte argues for a and political theorist Benedict the entire basis of nationalism.
centralized state that could Anderson, who says that we take He defines “the nation” as “an
isolate itself from the world imagined political community
to develop a volksgeist—a
nation’s distinct sense of self. With the development of printing,
publishers appealed to the masses with books written in the most
1861 Soon after Italian
unification, politician Massimo widespread vernacular languages as well as in Latin.
d’Azeglio announces: “We have
made Italy. Now we have to This gave the languages more stability, and helped
make Italians.” to define groups of people according to
the language they spoke.
1965 British-Czech
anthropologist Ernest Gellner This unification via a common language allowed
suggests that “nationalism is the growth of shared ideas and values, and the idea of
not the awakening of nations
to self-consciousness: it belonging to a nation grew.
invents nations where they
do not exist.” In a time when belief in religious rule was in decline,
the concept of “nationhood” gave the populace
1991 French philosopher
Étienne Balibar says that something to believe in, and a cause to die for.
“every ‘people’… is the project
of a national process of
ethnicization.”

CULTURE AND IDENTITY 203

See also: Paul Gilroy 75 ■ Edward Said 80–81 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■
Saskia Sassen 164–65 ■ David Held 170–71 ■ Stuart Hall 200–01

that is imagined as both limited the many regional dialects, they Benedict Anderson
and sovereign.” He explains that chose the larger ones, and as these
it is “imagined” because members dialects gained stability in print, Benedict Richard Anderson
of even the smallest nation in the so they created unified fields of is professor emeritus of
world will never know or even meet communication and helped define international studies,
most of their fellow-members, but what the nation should “look like.” government, and Asian
“in the minds of each lives the studies at Cornell University,
image of their communion.” Giving life purpose US. Born in Kunming, China,
Sovereignty is also part of this in 1936, he was the son of
National consciousness idea of the nation, Anderson says, an Irish father and English
The idea of the nation is “limited,” because the concept arose during mother who had been active
Anderson argues, because even the Enlightenment and an era of in Irish nationalist movements.
the largest of nations has finite revolution. Religions lost their The family emigrated to
boundaries, although these are unquestioned grip on people’s California in 1941, and
“elastic” (due, for example, to minds, and it was no longer thereafter to Ireland.
movement from immigration, accepted that monarchs had been Anderson was educated at
emigration, and contested divinely chosen by God to rule. Eton College in Berkshire,
territories). No nation has ever The sovereign state allowed the England. He took a degree
entertained the possibility of structure of a nation to exist in classics at the University
making everyone in the world part without calling on its people to of Cambridge in 1957.
of “their nation,” he says, in the way believe in religious dogma. But
that a religion, such as Christianity, with the death of religious rule, A fascination with Asian
would like to see everyone joined questions about the meaning of politics led Anderson to
in one, unified belief system. life went unanswered, according undertake a PhD at Cornell
to Anderson. The rationality of the University, which included a
Anderson claims that one of Enlightenment did not suggest any period of research in Jakarta,
the ways in which nationalities reason for living, or dying—but Indonesia. His public response
revealed their “elastic borders” was with the idea of the nation, a new to the 1965 communist coup
via the printing industry. In the purpose arose. Here was something there resulted in him being
16th century, booksellers catered worth dying for, and it also deported from the country,
to the educated, Latin-speaking provided a sense of continuity of after which he traveled in
minorities, but realized they purpose that people had previously Thailand for several years
needed to reach larger markets for gained from an idea of the afterlife before returning to Cornell
bigger profits. Unable to cater for (such as heaven). to teach.

Nationality, or… nation-ness, Some have questioned Key works
as well as nationalism, Anderson’s theory, in particular
are cultural artifacts. with respect to the Arabic world, 1983 Imagined Communities
Benedict Anderson which continues to use a classical 1998 The Spectre of
form of language and is still defined Comparisons
by religious belief. However, at a 2007 Under Three Flags
time in which political unrest is
rife within “sub-nations” (such as
Scotland or Catalonia) around the
world, Anderson’s idea of imagined
nationhood has proved both
controversial and hugely influential.
Imagined Communities has been
published in 29 languages. ■

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

CULTURE

HAS BEEN DOGGEDLY

PUSHING ITSELF

CENTER STAGE

JEFFREY ALEXANDER (1947– )



206 JEFFREY ALEXANDER Sociologists have tended to regard culture
as of secondary importance.
IN CONTEXT
Material factors—such as economic
FOCUS wealth and social class—have been seen
Cultural sociology
as more influential.
KEY DATES
1912 In The Elementary Alexander emphasizes the role of
Forms of the Religious Life, culture for determining social life.
Émile Durkheim discusses
how culture and meaning Without culture, no communication, event,
are interrelated. or human interaction is intelligible.

1937 US sociologist Talcott Within sociology, culture
Parsons emphasizes the has been doggedly pushing
autonomy of culture in The
Structure of Social Action. itself center stage.

1973 US anthropologist
Clifford Geertz stresses the
importance of meaning for
human social life in The
Interpretation of Cultures.

1995 In Fin de Siècle Social
Theory, Alexander criticizes
Pierre Bourdieu, the world’s
leading sociologist of culture.

2014 British sociologist
Christopher Thorpe applies
Alexander’s ideas in
his examination of how
the British experience Italy.

M any of us live our lives The culture that we inhabit shapes maintains that sociologists have
without examining why how we think, feel, and act in the historically seen culture as being
we habitually do what most existentially pervasive ways. of secondary importance. As one of
we do and think what we think. It is not in spite of our culture that the most influential social theorists
Why do we spend so much of each we are who we are, but precisely in the world, Alexander has sought
day working? Why do we save up because of it. to ensure that the subject of culture
our money? Why are we interested takes center stage in the analysis
in gossip about people we don’t US sociologist Jeffrey Alexander of late-modern society.
know? If pressed to answer such argues that culture—the collectively
questions, we may respond by produced ideas, beliefs, and values Sociology and culture
saying “because that’s what people of a group—is integral to an While early sociological theorists
like us do.” But there is nothing understanding of human life. Only recognized the central importance
natural, necessary, or inevitable through culture can humans pry of culture, they failed—according
about any of these things; instead, themselves apart from a primordial to Alexander—to take seriously
we behave like this because the state to reflect upon, and intervene the idea that culture is essential
culture we belong to compels us to. in, the world around them. In to understanding why people think
spite of its central role, Alexander

CULTURE AND IDENTITY 207

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Émile Durkheim 34–37 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ Jeffrey Alexander
Erving Goffman 190–95 ■ Talcott Parsons 300–01 ■ Herbert Blumer 335

We are not anywhere Émile Durkheim. For Durkheim, Jeffrey Alexander, born in
as reasonable or rational religion involved the separation 1947, is the Lillian Chavenson
or sensible as we would of the sacred—meaning the ideas, Saden Professor of Sociology
icons, and representations of at Yale University, and Co-
like to think. the divine—from the profane, Director for the Center
Jeffrey Alexander or the functions of everyday life. for Cultural Sociology. As
Alexander saw culture as akin part of this role, Alexander
and act in the ways they do. Karl to the sacred—autonomous from, established Cultural Sociology
Marx, for example, saw mainstream rather than dependent upon, as a new academic journal to
culture as a function of the ideas society; enabling rather than solely promote cultural sociological
and values of the ruling class; constraining; and containing both ideas and methods.
accordingly, culture served as irrational and rational elements.
little more than a veil to blind the His cultural sociology focuses on In the US, and arguably
majority of people to the profoundly understanding how individuals and on the world scene generally,
unjust society in which they lived. groups are involved in the creation notably through his work on
Max Weber took a different view of meaning by drawing upon Remembering the Holocaust:
and argued that Western culture collectively produced values, A Debate (2009), he is one of
was rational and involved viewing symbols, and discourses—ways the most distinguished social
the natural and social worlds in a of talking about things—and how thinkers of his time. Originally
dispassionate and scientific way; this in turn shapes their actions. taught by the influential US
it was devoid of any wider sociologists Talcott Parsons
meaning or worth. Three aspects of culture and Robert Bellah, Alexander
Alexander defines cultural carried forward structural-
For Alexander, both of these sociology in terms of three main functionalism to its logical
views are lacking: Marx’s account points, relating to origination, conclusion before abandoning
is overly reductive because it holds interpretation, and structure. it and founding his cultural
that culture is determined by the First, culture can be completely sociological paradigm.
way society is organized; Weber’s autonomous from the material
account is overly rational because dimensions of social life. Key works
it fails to acknowledge the highly Marx’s theories about culture
irrational aspects of Western became the orthodox way of 2003 The Meanings of Social
culture—in particular the role of conceptualizing the relationship Life: A Cultural Sociology
emotions and values in directing between the “social” and the 2012 Trauma: A Social Theory
the responses of individuals, and “cultural.” In Marx’s view, the 2013 The Dark Side of
even entire nations, to the events material base of society (the Modernity
taking place around them. economy, technologies, and the
division of labor) determined the ...the heart of current
Alexander’s theoretical ideal superstructure (the norms, debates lies between...
approach was very different, and values, and beliefs of culture). ‘cultural sociology’ and
built upon ideas about religion the ‘sociology of culture.’
proposed by French sociologist In contrast, Alexander believes Jeffrey Alexander
that culture cannot be understood
as a mere by-product of the
“harder,” more “real” material
dimensions of social life. The
notion that material factors
determine ideal ones—that
economy determines culture—
is fundamentally misguided. ❯❯

208 JEFFREY ALEXANDER

Instead, culture is, and should be, The failure of Bourdieu... is cultural structures. These are
according to Alexander, considered that he doesn’t recognize that symbolic resources, constellations
“an independent variable,” culture has relative autonomy of signs and symbols that members
detached from the life conditions of a culture draw upon to invest the
from which it emerged but able to from social structure. world with meaning and relevance.
exert power over the individuals Jeffrey Alexander People are often only partially
and collectives within that culture. aware of these structures—they
structured, but partially unique to do not consciously reflect upon the
People’s understanding of them, and for this reason cannot extent to which their conscious
events is neither natural or be understood in terms of simple and unconscious minds are shaped
inevitable but is determined by the cause and effect. How people by them. Nevertheless, those
culturally specific language and interpret an event cannot ever be structures are socially produced
symbols they use to interpret, code, fully predicted but instead requires and patterned. The goal of cultural
and make sense of the world. As to be understood retrospectively sociology is to make these
Alexander says, whether a society and from the perspective of the structures visible. The ultimate
is defined as capitalist, socialist, people concerned. aim is to understand better—
or authoritarian does not bring us and, where desirable, intervene
any closer to understanding the Third, Alexander claims that in—the collective actions and
collective meaning attributed to in the same way that there exist reactions to events that take
an event. Instead, this is something social structures—patterned ways place in the world.
that needs to be explored from of behaving that exist above and
“inside,” in terms of the collectively beyond individuals—there are also Meaning and the Holocaust
produced structures, meanings, To demonstrate the way social
and symbols that people use to groups are compelled by value-
make sense of it. laden meanings and symbols,
Alexander draws upon the example
Second, in order to understand of the Nazi Holocaust of World War
culture, sociologists must adopt an II. He uses this example because
interpretative approach. Alexander the Holocaust is recognized as one
compares culture to a text— of the most powerful symbols of
something that people read and
interpret in ways that are socially

Culture in society can be
explained in a number of different
ways. Marx linked culture to
social structure, but cultural
sociologists such as Alexander
see it as an independent, vast
body of resources.

Marx saw Alexander argues
culture as a product of that culture behaves like
economic, technological, software in a computing
and social activity,
cloud that users can
forming part of the contribute to and draw
social structure. upon to create meaning

in the world.

CULTURE AND IDENTITY 209

human suffering and evil; it is group lessened, did it become An earthquake in 1997 destroyed
(almost) beyond question that this possible for individuals and Giotto’s frescoes of St. Francis in the
event could be understood in any institutions to identify with them basilica at Assisi, Italy. Mira Debbs
other way. Unbelievable as it may psychologically. By the early 1970s, reflected on how this loss resulted in
seem now, he argues, it is neither the necessary cultural structures socially constructed cultural trauma.
natural or inevitable that those were in place for the Holocaust to
events came to be understood be re-evaluated, re-narrated, and the creation of meaning and its
as an act of unprecedented evil; symbolically recoded as an act of maintenance across a range of
rather: “...the category of ‘evil’ must evil. Only then was it elevated to areas—including the Holocaust,
be seen not as something that the level of a traumatic event for democracy and civil society, and
naturally exists but as an arbitrary all humankind and not just the the 9/11 attacks—have led to
construction, the product of Jews. On a state visit in 1970, more scholars developing and
cultural and sociological work.” the West German chancellor’s extending his ideas. For example,
“kneefall” at the Warsaw Ghetto US sociologist Mira Debbs has
In his 2001 essay “On the Social memorial has been described by analyzed the response in Italy
Construction of Moral Universalism: Valentin Rauer, in Alexander’s to the destruction in 1997 of the
The ‘Holocaust’ from War Crime Social Performance (2006), as a artist Giotto’s iconic frescoes in
to Trauma Drama,” Alexander “symbol in action.” the basilica at Assisi. Such was the
demonstrates in rich detail that in sacred status allocated to them in
the years immediately after World Alexander’s cultural sociology the national imagination that their
War II the Holocaust was not is rapidly establishing itself as loss has often been given more
viewed with anything like the one of the most innovative and prominence than that of human
same horror and condemnation insightful sociological theoretical life. Debbs draws upon Alexander’s
as it is now. As a socially distinct frameworks. As part of the wider ideas to demonstrate how the
ethnic group, European Jews were “cultural turn” within the social narration and coding of the
typically negatively regarded in sciences, his work has helped artworks in a particular way—as
many societies, which in turn led retrain the analytical focus of sacred national treasures—led to
to a less than empathetic response social thinkers onto the topic such a strong, seemingly irrational,
to their plight. Only as they became of “meaning.” In particular his collective emotional response by
more integrated into wider society, adaptation and application of the majority of Italian people. ■
and their distinctness as a social Durkheim’s work to understanding

Willy Brandt’s kneefall at the
memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising in 1970 was an act that
symbolized German repentance,
triggering a shift in collective identity.

WORK A
CONSUM

ND
ERISM

212 INTRODUCTION Max Weber describes In The Coming of Post-
the religious roots Industrial Society: A Venture in
Karl Marx and of modern capitalist Social Forecasting, Daniel Bell
Friedrich Engels work in The Protestant
describe in The Ethic and the Spirit predicts the replacement
Communist Manifesto of manufacturing with
the exploitation and of Capitalism.
alienation of workers. information and
service industries.

1848 1904–05 1973
1899 1964 1974

Thorstein Veblen introduces Robert Blauner suggests, in In Labor and Monopoly Capital:
the concept of Alienation and Freedom: The The Degradation of Work in the
Factory Worker and His Industry,
conspicuous consumption that increased automation Twentieth Century, Harry
in his Theory of the Leisure helps reduce the alienation Braverman describes the
Class: An Economic Study de-skilling of workers
felt by industrial workers. through increasing automation.
of Institutions.

S ociology initially focused repetitive and soulless nature of the and leisure. The value that was
its attention on the changes work itself alienated the workers, ascribed to material wealth meant
to society that had been while the division of labor removed that a person’s social status was
brought about by industrialization. any feeling of connection with the judged by economic worth.
A major aspect of modernity was finished product or pride in their
the changing nature of people’s work. Later, Max Weber pointed out Toward the end of the 19th
working lives: the dramatic shift how rationalization and the work century, sociologist Thorstein
from agriculture and crafts in rural ethic combined to force people to Veblen pointed out that the
communities to employment in the work for a specific economic end bourgeoisie could assert its social
new manufacturing industries. rather than for the good of the status, whether real or not, by
Along with this came the growth of community as a whole. Traditional conspicuous consumption—
capitalism, bringing prosperity to communal values had been eroded, spending not on goods and services
at least some members of society. and replaced with an emphasis on that were necessary, but luxuries
material worth. and leisure pursuits that would be
Among the first to study the noticed. Colin Campbell was later
implications of work in modern Consumer society to liken the rise of a “consumer
industrial society were Karl Marx For the working class, this society” in the 20th century to the
and Friedrich Engels, who saw the translated into a struggle to earn Romanticism that flourished in
emergence of two social classes: the means to support a family, and reaction to 18th-century rationalism
an affluent bourgeoisie, or middle resignation to a life of work that and industrialization. Daniel
class, and an oppressed proletariat, was unrewarding in every sense. Miller saw the growth of material
or working class. But as well as the For the growing capitalist middle consumerism as a potential source
exploitation of the working class, class, it meant increased prosperity of social cohesion—a means of
the pair recognized that the identifying with a social group.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 213

Pierre Bourdieu Arlie Hochschild’s In The Romantic Ethic Daniel Miller argues in
reworks Veblen’s idea The Managed Heart and the Spirit of Modern Stuff that material
consumption is a
of conspicuous suggests that the Consumerism, Colin
consumption in service economy has Campbell echoes Weber positive force in the
Distinction: A Social establishment of
commercialized to examine the links
Critique of the human emotions. between Romanticism personal identity and
Judgment of Taste. social cohesion.
and consumerism.

1979 1983 1987 2010
1979 1986 2007

In Manufacturing In Patriarchy at Work: In Assembling Women:
Consent, Michael Patriarchal and Capitalist The Feminization of Global
Burawoy examines how Relations in Employment, Manufacturing, Teri Lynn
workers develop ways Sylvia Walby highlights
gender inequalities in Caraway examines the
to deal with effects of more women
unsatisfying jobs. the workplace. entering employment.

Industrialization continued to yet more alienated. Somewhere longer seen as a male preserve;
spread across the world in the between these two views, however, more women than ever before are
20th century, and technological Michael Burawoy suggested that in paid employment.
advances led to an increase in workers reconcile themselves to
automation—in agricultural ultimately dull and oppressive work One effect of the shift into what
and traditional crafts as well by recognizing its positive aspects. is now known as the post-industrial
as in manufacturing industries. world has been identified by Arlie
Societies, in the industrialized Post-industrial work Hochschild. Service industries
West at least, became more In the 1970s, around 200 years after are more emotionally demanding
materially prosperous, and the beginning of the Industrial than manufacturing; in effect,
fostered the rapid growth of mass Revolution, the nature of work they commercialize emotion, to the
consumerism, but sociologists looked set to change yet again. extent, she argues, that people can
disagreed about the effects of Daniel Bell predicted that associate their feelings with their
automation on the workforce. mechanization would take people work rather than their home lives
out of manufacturing industries, and leisure. The social effects of
Robert Blauner forecast that and they would be employed these recent changes to the nature
automation would free people from predominantly in the information of employment have yet to be fully
mindless tasks and reduce their and service industries. To a large studied; it is too early to tell whether
feelings of alienation. On the other extent, in the affluent world at work in the service economy will
hand, Harry Braverman argued least, this has proved correct. prove to be any more rewarding, or
that automation meant workers Another change that became conducive to social solidarity, than
were no longer required to develop apparent in the latter part of the manufacturing work—or if gender
professional skills, had less control 20th century is that work was no inequality will be reduced because
over their working lives, and felt more women are in the workforce. ■

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION OF

VALUABLE GOODS

IS A MEANS OF REPUTABILITY

TO THE GENTLEMAN OF

LEISURE

THORSTEIN VEBLEN (1857–1929)



216 THORSTEIN VEBLEN T he work of US economist The motive that lies at
and sociologist Thorstein the root of ownership
IN CONTEXT Veblen focuses on the
relationship between economy and is emulation.
FOCUS society, and on how different class Thorstein Veblen
Conspicuous consumption groups consume specific goods and
services. He draws on the ideas of a The industrious class forms
KEY DATES number of key theorists, including the vast majority of the population
1844 Karl Marx discusses Karl Marx, British sociologist and engages in productive labor,
class structure in capitalist Herbert Spencer, and British such as manual craft and machine
society in Economic and naturalist Charles Darwin. Veblen’s work. By contrast, the leisure
Philosophical Manuscripts insights into capitalist society and class is a numerically far smaller,
of 1844. the types of consumer behavior but nevertheless socially and
it gives rise to are outlined in his economically privileged, group
1859 Charles Darwin explains most celebrated work, The Theory that is parasitic on the labor
his theory of evolution in On of the Leisure Class: An Economic of the industrious class. For Veblen,
the Origin of Species by Means Study of Institutions (1899). members of this predatory leisure
of Natural Selection. class do not produce anything of
Capitalism and class any real benefit to the wider good
1979 Pierre Bourdieu reworks Veblen sees the transition from of society. The wealth and privilege
Veblen’s theory of conspicuous traditional to modern society as they possess derive from driving
consumption in Distinction. propelled by the development of competition and manipulating
technical knowledge and industrial workers, with the sole aim of
1992–2005 Studies by US production methods. Like Marx, increasing their personal wealth.
sociologist Richard A. Peterson Veblen argues that capitalist
suggest that snobbery is no society is split into two competing
longer a determining factor in social-class groups: the industrious
the consumption practices of class made up of workers; and the
the middle class. leisure class, also referred to as the
pecuniary or business class (which
From 2011 Veblen’s concept also includes politicians, managers,
of conspicuous consumption lawyers, and so on), which owns
influences economic ideas the factories and workshops.
about irrationality and
consumer behavior.

Capitalist society is divided into The industrious class produces consumer
two classes. goods, and the leisure class thrives on the

profits created by the industrious class.

Conspicuous consumption Members of the leisure class buy
of valuable goods is a nonessential luxury goods to display

means of reputability to their wealth, power, and status.
the gentleman of leisure.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 217

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Charles Wright Mills 46–49 ■ Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Anthony Giddens 148–49 ■
Herbert Marcuse 182–87 ■ Colin Campbell 234–35 ■ Herbert Spencer 334

Worse still, the privileged class The concept of “Veblen goods,” or luxury goods
consistently impedes positive that signal high status, appeared in economic theory
social advancement through its in the 1970s. In a reversal of usual trends, the higher
deliberate mismanagement of the price of these items, the more they are desired.
industry and society generally.

Social recognition Desire for goods increases
Veblen’s concept of “conspicuous as price increases.
consumption” is his most renowned
contribution to economic and PRICE OF LUXURY ITEM
sociological theory. Framed by
the Darwinian notion that all life DESIRE FOR LUXURY ITEM
represents an ongoing struggle
for resources in the pursuit of members of the leisure class spend production of consumer goods
advancement of the species (or in pursuit of activities that are and services) and time are wasted.
in the case of human societies, neither economically nor socially A glaring example of this culture
the groups to which individuals productive. Very simply, leisure of waste is the depletion of natural
belong), Veblen argues that under implies an absence of work. For resources such as oil and minerals
capitalism the majority of human members of this privileged class in the manufacture of luxury ❯❯
behavior is determined by who have sufficient distance from
struggles for social recognition, economic necessity (the need to Travel to foreign lands, learning
status, and power. This is most work), the nonproductive use of languages, and acquiring knowledge
evident in relation to patterns of time can be used to further their about other cultures were powerful
consumption and leisure. social prestige and class position. status symbols for wealthy Europeans
Going on exotic foreign vacations in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Conspicuous consumption and learning about other countries
refers to spending money on, and are classic examples of conspicuous
consumption of, nonessential leisure, according to Veblen.
luxury goods in order to display
to other members of society The inevitable consequence
one’s own economic and material of conspicuous leisure and
wealth. An example of this is the consumption is the production of
modern business tycoon who buys unnecessary waste. Conspicuous
an expensive yacht so that he can waste, argues Veblen, derives from
entertain friends and clients. It is the amalgamation of conspicuous
not the utility value of the yacht consumption and conspicuous
(whether or not it is an effective leisure. The net result of these two
means of transport) that matters activities is that socially valuable
to the tycoon; rather, its value is as resources (the raw materials and
a highly conspicuous signifier of human labor essential for the
the wealth at the tycoon’s disposal,
for which he will receive both
admiration and respect.

Leisure and waste
Closely bound to Veblen’s concept
of conspicuous consumption is
the notion of conspicuous leisure:
the vast amount of time that

218 THORSTEIN VEBLEN

goods and commodities, which in to emulate, both consciously and The carbon-copy lifestyle of
turn gives rise to increased carbon unconsciously, the consumption some middle-class neighborhoods
emissions and climate change. practices of their social arises from pressure to emulate the
“superiors”—members of the leisure consumption practices of residents in
Veblen’s concepts of class. This is an attempt to signify an attempt to gain status and prestige.
conspicuous consumption and to others their affiliation to the most
conspicuous leisure are “political” socially powerful and dominant according to Veblen. As capitalism
ones because they contain within groups in society. becomes increasingly competitive,
them a strong moral stance toward so the process of invidious
the actions and lifestyle of what he Pecuniary emulation is firmly comparison proliferates. The
sees as the predatory and parasitic rooted in the idea of ownership: dominant mode of evaluating
leisure class. once the immediate material needs other people is “with a view to
of individuals are met, consumer rating and grading them in
Pecuniary emulation goods are purchased for their utility respect to relative worth or value.”
Aside from the wastefulness that as signifiers of social-class status But in addition to generating even
the lifestyle of the leisure class and affiliation to the identity and more waste across the population,
necessitates, a further negative lifestyle of a given social group. the process of pecuniary
consequence of their activities In capitalist society, social-class emulation does not guarantee the
is captured in Veblen’s notion of groups are stratified hierarchically. accumulation of social respect
pecuniary emulation. This concept Attached to each class group is a or prestige. Here Veblen uses the
refers to the idea that individuals specific amount of social status. term “nouveau riche,” or recently
from lower social-class groups try Ownership, power, status, and acquired wealth, to describe people
dominance become inextricably who engage in conspicuous acts of
Wealth is now itself bound together, such that the consumption, such as buying flashy
intrinsically honorable struggle for status is founded cars or designer-brand clothes. This
and confers honor on primarily in displays of economic may result in disapproval from
wealth and pecuniary respect. people whose wealth or status—
its possessor. Veblen claims that people are and what may be considered as
Thorstein Veblen constantly comparing themselves— more understated or subtle taste
and what they have—to those dispositions—is inherited from
around them. There are, he says, a previous generations. This could
number of very real and negative serve to alienate the nouveau riche
unintended consequences arising even further from the dominant
from this phenomenon. social groups they aspire to
emulate. Purchasing conspicuous
Individuals and entire groups consumer goods can lead to the
are subjected to the pressures attainment of social prestige, but
of “invidious,” or unjust,
comparison with one another,

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 219

not in those cases in which the Individuals... seek to dispositions and consumption
consumers are perceived to be, and excel in pecuniary standing practices are emulated by all
often are, exceeding the financial other social groups.
means available to them. and... gain the esteem
and envy of fellow-men. Developing this idea further,
Veblen’s legacy US sociologist Richard Peterson
Veblen’s ideas on the conspicuous Thorstein Veblen devised the concept of “cultural
nature of consumption have been omnivore” to refer to an emergent
influential in the development of are able to construct a sense of social group—the educated fraction
sociological analysis and continue self-identity and worth through of the middle class working in
to attract controversy and debate the products they buy and the the new media industries and
in equal measure. activities they pursue. advertising—that accrues prestige
from consuming an eclectic mix
For example, the work of the More recently, sociologists of high- and low-brow consumer
French theorist Pierre Bourdieu have questioned whether a socially goods. Social prestige, according
is indebted to Veblen’s notions distinct leisure class can really to Peterson, is now no longer
of pecuniary emulation and be said to exist at all. British derived from conspicuous
conspicuous consumption, even sociologist Mike Savage, for consumption of luxury goods
though he modified them to fit his example, has argued that the alone, but from the “knowing”
theoretical model. Bourdieu maps shifting dynamics of modern and “ironic” consumption of
out how individuals and social- class relations means there is no purposively non-luxury items such
class groups constantly compete aristocratic leisure class in the as retrograde clothing, baseball
with, and differentiate themselves modern world. This also means, caps, Dr. Martens boots, and so on.
from, one another through the according to Savage, that there
consumption of certain types is no longer a clearly identifiable Despite criticisms and
of socially distinguishing goods social group whose taste modification of his ideas, Veblen’s
and services. The Theory of the Leisure Class,
with its detailed examination
British-born sociologist Colin of the intended and unintended
Campbell, however, sees Veblen’s social consequences of consumer
work as overly reductive. He claims spending and wider consumption
that Veblen fails to acknowledge patterns in capitalist societies,
that the acquisition of consumer nevertheless remains an essential
goods plays an essential and reference for economists and
positive part in the way people sociologists alike. ■

Thorstein Veblen religion, combined with his his notoriously promiscuous
odd manner and allegedly behavior. This culminated in
Thorsten Veblen was born in monotonous teaching style, divorce from his wife in 1911.
Wisconsin to Norwegian meant that he struggled to gain He moved to California, where
immigrant parents. He obtained employment. As a result, from he passed his remaining years
his undergraduate degree in 1884 to 1891 he depended on in depressed solitude.
economics from Johns Hopkins the largesse of his family.
University in 1880; four years Key works
later he received his doctorate In 1892, his former mentor,
from Yale University. J. Laurence Laughlin, joined the 1899 The Theory of the Leisure
University of Chicago, taking Class: An Economic Study
Veblen’s relationship with Veblen with him as a teaching of Institutions
the world of institutional assistant. It was here Veblen 1904 The Theory of Business
academia was a fractious one. wrote and published The Theory Enterprise
In the late 19th century, many of the Leisure Class. Shortly after, 1914 The Instincts of
universities were strongly he was fired from the University Workmanship and the State
affiliated with churches, and of Chicago and, later, also from of the Industrial Arts
Veblen’s skepticism about the University of Stanford for

220 IN CONTEXT

THE PURITAN FOCUS
WANTED TO WORK Protestant work ethic
IN A CALLING;
WE ARE FORCED KEY DATES
TO DO SO 1517 German theologian
Martin Luther posts his
MAX WEBER (1864–1920) “Ninety-Five Theses on
the Power and Efficacy of
Indulgences,” which is a
catalyst for the Protestant
Reformation.

From the 1840s Karl Marx
focuses on economic—rather
than religious or cultural—
factors for understanding the
rise of capitalism.

1882 A worldview hostile
to Christianity is articulated
by the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche, who
declares “God is dead.”

1920 Max Weber’s book
Sociology of Religion is
published and becomes a
major influence on sociological
theories of religion.

M ax Weber, a founding
father of sociology,
provides a very different
account of the rise of capitalism
to that outlined in the work of the
two other traditional founders of
the discipline, Karl Marx and Émile
Durkheim. In The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–
05), Weber’s most acclaimed
work, he offers an analysis of
the role played by religious ideas,
beliefs, and values—particularly
Protestantism—in the rise of
modern capitalism.

For Weber, the definitive
feature of capitalist society is the
particular “work ethic” or “spirit of
capitalism,” as he refers to it, that

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 221

See also: Émile Durkheim 34–37 ■ Zygmunt Bauman 136–43 ■ Jeffrey Alexander 204–09 ■ Colin Campbell 234–35 ■
Karl Marx 254–59 ■ Bryan Wilson 278–79

Roman Catholicism’s The reformist notion A religiously inspired
corruption and other- of “the calling” claims work ethic develops with
worldliness prompts religious duty and earning a sense of duty animated

calls for change. a living are the same. by “social usefulness.”

Capitalism’s religious roots An emphasis on
fade from view as its success economic accumulation
fuels the new Protestant
leads to the triumph “spirit of capitalism.”
of secularization.

drives modern economies and the to capitalism, he argues, is that the Where, wondered Weber, did this
pursuit of wealth and profit. He pursuit of profit becomes an end ideal—the unrelenting pursuit of
claims that this “work ethic” is in itself. A modern-day example profit, or wealth for wealth’s sake—
founded on the values of rationality, is the transnational banking that animates the “work ethic” at
calculability, individual self- group HSBC, which made a pre-tax the heart of capitalism, actually
regulation, and gain. profit of US $22.6 billion in 2013. come from?
If this profit was distributed
The pursuit of profit among all of the firm’s employees Weber believed that to answer
Weber’s focus on the part played by they could stop working and still this question, we must look not
cultural factors was partly intended live materially comfortable lives. to changes in social solidarity or
to counter Marx’s view that the rise Instead, firms such as HSBC use technology but to one of the oldest
of capitalism was a natural and the profit they make to reinvest features of all human societies—
inevitable process. Weber rejected in the corporation, improve its religion. He looks back in time
the notion that human history is efficiency, and pursue further profit. to religious developments that
driven by underlying, inexorable were taking place in 16th-century ❯❯
“laws” that determine the path
society will take.

The buying and selling of goods
and services for more than they are
worth is, Weber says, not unique
to capitalism. Throughout history
people have always traded with one
another with a view to accruing
profit. What is historically unique

The vast profits of the US retail
giant Walmart should, staff says, be
redirected into paying better wages.
The corporation came under scrutiny
in 2014 as a low-paying employer.

222 MAX WEBER

Europe, when Protestantism concept of “the calling” is the belief Calvinist church aesthetics stress
emerged as a reaction to the that earning a living and religious simplicity: Protestantism focused on
perceived corruption and failings duty are one and the same thing. austerity and thrift in contrast to the
of the Roman Catholic Church. grandeur and ostentation that was
Nascent Protestantism offered a Luther’s ideas were taken up often associated with Catholicism.
very different vision of the relations within two decades and developed
between God and his subjects in important ways by arguably the another that there were certain
and the ethics overseeing them. most influential of all the reformers, distinct signs that revealed who
John Calvin (1509–1564). However, was predestined to be saved.
The Protestant “calling” contained within the otherwise
Weber identified in particular the coherent ethical system Calvin Social usefulness
importance of “the calling” to the formulated was a significant Protestants felt that the most
new Protestant system of ethics, by inconsistency or contradiction: if obvious way in which they could
which was meant the position that God is all-seeing and all-knowing, tell whether or not they were saved
God has called people to occupy then our destiny as individuals is was by succeeding in the world,
in this world. Whereas the Roman predetermined because God made especially in economic affairs.
Catholic Church urged monastic the world and everyone in it. Essential to this outcome was,
retreat from the world of mundane they believed, a specific work
affairs (such as daily life and work), Calvin’s notion is referred to as ethic—historically novel and
Protestantism demanded that its the concept of the “elect.” Because uniquely Protestant—that
followers fulfilled their worldly God already knows how we are emphasized the absolute need for
duties and responsibilities. fated to live our lives, he also knows austerity, self-monitoring, and self-
whose souls he has elected to save control in the conduct of economic
In drawing attention to this and whose souls will be damned. affairs. Weber referred to this as the
difference in religious ideals, Weber The problem for Protestants, “spirit of capitalism.”
identified the German theologian however, is that there is no way of
Martin Luther (1483–1546) as the knowing in advance the category— A further aspect of this spirit
man whose thinking was essential the saved or the damned—to which was the drive toward increasing
to the development of Protestant they belong. According to Weber, rationalization, control, and
theology. Luther was the first this unknown gave rise to calculability within the sphere
person to suggest that fulfilling “salvation anxiety” and led to of economic action. To prosper
the duties of secular life also psychological terror among the economically is to demonstrate to
demonstrated reverence to God. followers of Protestantism. To one’s self and others adherence to
He claimed that at the heart of the resolve their unease, Protestants the notion of “the calling”: the more
convinced themselves and one

Modernity and the Holocaust

For Weber, the spread of and acting, Bauman sees it as
the values of calculability, a highly rationalized event. Not
rationality, and self-restraint only did modernity’s rationality
that defined the Protestant work make the Holocaust possible, it
ethic were also central to the was a necessary condition for it
development of modernity. because the extermination was
run on bureaucratic, organized
German-Polish sociologist lines. Bauman argues that the
Zygmunt Bauman argues that high levels of rationality and
the value-basis of that ethic also self-discipline exhibited by the
explains how the Nazi Holocaust Holocaust’s perpetrators are
was able to occur. Instead of the inextricably bound up with
traditional view of the Holocaust the religious culture and values
as the triumph of irrationality that were found throughout
and a regression to primitive, Protestant Europe.
pre-modern ways of thinking

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 223

hard-working, austere, and self- More than 100 years after Fulfillment of worldly duties
controlled individuals are in their its original publication in German, is... the only way to live
actions, the greater will be the Weber’s theory of the Protestant acceptably to God.
economic rewards they reap; and ethic remains hotly debated among Max Weber
the more wealth they accumulate, contemporary sociologists and
the more this is understood as proof historians. The Italian sociologist in The Romantic Ethic and the
of their religious purity and the Luciano Pellicani, for example, has Spirit of Modern Consumerism
promise of salvation. argued that the spirit of capitalism (1987), Colin Campbell uses Weber’s
arose much earlier than Weber theory to account for the rise of
The inverse of the Protestant suggests and that it was already consumer culture in Europe
ethic is to shy away from work— present in medieval society. and the US. This extension of
to commit the sins of idleness Weber’s ideas confirms that his
and indolence and to fail to In Weber’s defense, English religion-inspired account of the
prosper financially. historian Guy Oakes points to rise of capitalism continues to
the fact that medieval capitalism exert a powerful influence over
Secularization was fueled by greed rather than sociological thought. ■
With the steady decline of formal by the sober, mundane sense
religion (secularization) from the of duty promoted by Calvinism.
Industrial Revolution onward, the However, the fact that industrial
Protestant ethic that underpins capitalism first took hold in the
the “spirit of capitalism” has been Protestant countries of Europe,
eroded. When Weber claims that such as the Netherlands, Britain,
early Protestants “wanted to work and Germany, confirms the
in a calling” but that today “we are link that Weber made between
forced to,” he is suggesting that Protestantism and the enterprising
although the values of hard work, impulse that was necessary for the
self-control, and self-discipline development of capitalism. And
upon which capitalism is founded
have remained and are valued The Protestant world view was shaped
socially, their religious roots have by the concept that worldly duties show
disappeared from view. reverence to God and promote his glory.
Material success is interpreted as God’s
In identifying the strong affinity approval—a reward for effort, thrift,
between the work ethic contained sobriety, and other “correct” ways of living.
within Reformation Protestantism—
particularly the teachings of WHdSouaeDrrltfildi-sdeccwlsoiyp:noltrirknoel Honor your
John Calvin—and the spirit of calling and
capitalism, Weber draws attention you shall be
to a great historical irony. The rewarded
Protestant Reformation was
intended to salvage the message of
God from the corrupting influences
of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nearly 500 years later, formal
religion has gone into significant
decline. What began as an attempt
to salvage the Word has given
rise to a work ethic that has been
essential to the proliferation
of capitalism. And as capitalism
has developed, the power of formal
religion to influence our actions has
greatly diminished.

224

TECHNOLOGY, LIKE
ART, IS A SOARING
EXERCISE OF THE
HUMAN IMAGINATION

DANIEL BELL (1919–2011)

IN CONTEXT Post-industrial society is characterized by the proliferation
of scientific and theoretical knowledge.
FOCUS
Post-industrialism Scientific Universities and Technocrats
progress leads to industry-based gain power due
KEY DATES technological to their technical
1850s–80s Karl Marx argues advances and the research are
that the social power of the key drivers of competence
bourgeoisie, or capitalist class, rise of service innovation and and specialist
derives from ownership of industries. social change. knowledge.
industrial machines.
Advances in technology lead society in
1904–05 Max Weber’s The imaginative and unpredictable new directions.
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit
of Capitalism points to the D uring the 1960s and first-hand experience of the rapid
increasingly rational nature 1970s profound changes and extensive urban development
of modern culture. swept through the that was taking place.
economic basis of society in
1970s Leading US sociologist Western Europe and the US. In his Bell agrees with Karl Marx that
Talcott Parsons defends the influential work The Coming the bourgeoisie, or capitalist class,
values and advancement of of Post-Industrial Society (1973), was the most powerful social group
modern industrial society. political journalist and sociologist in industrial society because they
Daniel Bell developed the concept owned the means of production—
1970–72 Daniel Bell forecasts of “post-industrialism” to refer to the factories and machines that
the rise of the Internet and these changes. Having lived in produced the goods consumed
the importance of home New York and Chicago, Bell had by the wider population. In
computers. Bell’s post-industrial society,

From the 1990s The
concept of post-industrialism
informs the theories of
globalization experts Ulrich
Beck and Manuel Castells.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 225

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Manuel Castells 152–55 ■ Ulrich Beck 156–61 ■
Max Weber 220–223

however, the most valuable social initiatives form ever-tighter and Daniel Bell
“resource” is scientific and interpenetrating relations; and
theoretical knowledge, and those finally, the number of unskilled The influential social thinker,
who control it hold the power. and semiskilled workers declines writer, and sociologist Daniel
as the majority of the population Bell was born in Manhattan,
He also claims that social work in, and draw upon, the New York City in 1919.
change occurs at an unprecedented expanding service industries. His parents were Jewish
pace as scientific progress and Bell refers to service industries as immigrants from Eastern
developments in technology those spheres of human activity Europe. His father died when
interpenetrate and propel human that are devoted to managing Bell was just a few months
societies into the future. The and guiding the application of old; his family’s name was
post-industrial era is therefore, information and knowledge. changed from Bolotsky to Bell
he says, a period in the history when he was a teenager.
of society in which advances in Another key aspect of post-
science and technology are as industrial society, according In 1938 Bell received a
unpredictable and boundless to Bell, is the rise in power of BSc from City College of New
as the human imagination. “technocrats,” or people who York. He worked as a political
exercise authority through their journalist for more than 20
Post-industrial society technical knowledge and ability to years. As managing editor of
According to Bell, post-industrial solve problems logically. The social The New Leader magazine
society differs from industrial power of technocrats is determined and editor of Fortune, he
society in three interrelated ways: by their skill in forecasting and wrote widely on social issues.
first, the production of consumer guiding new scientific ideas. In 1959, in recognition of his
goods is surpassed by the growth contribution to political
and progress of “theoretical” Bell believes that technology journalism, he was appointed
knowledge; second, developments encourages imagination and professor of sociology at
in science and technology become experimentation—in so doing, it Columbia University; he was
increasingly intertwined as opens up new ways of thinking later awarded a PhD from the
universities and industry-led about the world. He points to the same university, even though
fact that the Greek word techne he did not submit a doctoral
Modern cities are no longer means “art.” For him, art and thesis. He was a professor
dominated by the factories essential to technology should not be seen as of sociology at Harvard
manufacturing. In the post-industrial separate realms: technology, he University from 1969 to 1990.
world of service industries, futuristic says, is “a form of art that bridges
architecture has space to thrive. culture and social structure, and Key works
in the process reshapes both.” ■
1969 The End of Ideology
1973 The Coming of Post-
Industrial Society
1976 The Cultural
Contradictions of Capitalism

THE MORE

SOPHISTICATED

MACHINES BECOME

THE LESS SKILL

THE WORKER HAS

HARRY BRAVERMAN (1920–1976)



228 HARRY BRAVERMAN The US economy undergoes rapid
industrialization in the 1950s.
IN CONTEXT
The “scientific” division of labor emphasizes
FOCUS rationalization, calculability, and control.
De-skilling
Skilled factory and office workers are alienated by
KEY DATES increased automation and managerial control.
1911 US mechanical engineer
Frederick Winslow Taylor Claims of increased training, skill, and education
publishes The Scientific prove false as workers’ overall skill levels decline.
Principles of Management.
The more sophisticated machines
1950s The translation become, the less skill the worker has.
into English of Karl Marx’s
writing on alienation brings
his work back into vogue in
Anglophone sociology.

1958 US thinker James R.
Bright publishes Automation
and Management, which
warns of links between
automation and de-skilling.

1960s Mechanization causes
widespread alienation among
unskilled and semiskilled
workers in the US.

1970s A US governmental
report entitled Work in
America concludes that
significant numbers of workers
are dissatisfied with their jobs.

S ince the 1950s, Karl Marx’s acknowledging that he is following working class and craftsmen. He
concept of alienation has in this intellectual tradition, Harry believed that the de-skilling of work
been the leading analytical Braverman’s classic 1974 study, and the degradation of industrial
lens through which sociologists Labor and Monopoly Capital: workers was a process that had
from North America and Europe The Degradation of Work in the been gathering momentum since
have sought to understand the Twentieth Century, is a systematic World War II. Although his focus
modernization of employment inquiry into the nature of industrial was on factory workers, he also
and its effects on the workforce. work and the changing composition dealt with, albeit in less detail,
of the working class under the office and clerical workers.
Both Marx and Max Weber had conditions of monopoly capitalism.
predicted that the rise of industrial Myths of skilled labor
technology would be accompanied Braverman’s analysis pivots The idea that the industrialization
by a drive toward ever-greater on the notion of “de-skilling”: that of factory work is empowering for
levels of efficiency, and the advances in industrial technology workers is tackled head on by
rationalization of the workforce and machine production have led to Braverman and found seriously
into increasingly differentiated the alienation and “deconstruction” wanting. Drawing on his own
and specialized parts. Explicitly of skilled members of the industrial

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 229

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ George Ritzer 120–23 ■ Manuel Castells 152–55 ■ Erich Fromm 188 ■
Daniel Bell 224–25 ■ Robert Blauner 232–33

Industrial processes and... the workforce, typically this acknowledges that automation
organization have robbed has a negative and unintended can be a positive development. The
the worker of his craft and consequence for the individual effects become wholly negative, he
entering paid employment. claims, when automation of the
its heritage. workplace is coupled with radical
Harry Braverman In the course of surveys changes to the social relations of
and interviews undertaken by production: the way in which the
experience of such factory work, Braverman, it was often found that total labor process is organized,
Braverman challenges official the attainment of educational managed, and manipulated.
statistics and governmental qualifications made the experience He emphasizes the distinction
classifications of workers to of factory and office work even more between advances in science
demonstrate the progressive frustrating, or lacking in fulfillment, and technology and how those
and ongoing “de-skilling” of because opportunities for are implemented in the workplace
the US working class. individuals to utilize and apply on the one hand, and changes to
the knowledge obtained from their the social relations of production—
So, for example, the notion schooling simply did not exist. the drive for ever-more efficient
that increasing technology Greater educational achievement ways to organize and divide up
in the workplace calls forth a can lead to a far more acutely the labor force—on the other.
more technically proficient and perceived sense of alienation.
educationally qualified workforce Just as machines are built to
is, he argues, simply not true. Progressive skills erosion do jobs in the most efficient way,
Terms like “training,” “skill,” and Before the Industrial Revolution, the workforce is structured to
“learning” are vague and open to notes Braverman, material increase productivity and profit.
interpretation, and the amount of goods were made by skilled and Braverman’s aim is to show that the
training required to operate factory semiskilled craftsmen and artisans. embodied knowledge and technical
and office machinery often takes Advances in technology had competencies of skilled workers
only a matter of minutes or, at most, enabled the scale of industrial have been eroded and forgotten. ❯❯
a few weeks. Merely pointing to production to reach unprecedented
the fact that workers can operate levels. The capacity for machines The production line at Opel in
machinery does not necessarily to perform so many of the tasks 1950s’ West Germany. Subdivision of
mean their skill levels have hitherto performed manually by labor improved efficiency but, claimed
increased significantly. Tending skilled workers meant certain skills Braverman, such processes de-skilled
to machinery and knowing how and technical knowledge were no and degraded the worker.
to operate it—a good example is longer required, while the need for
learning how to use a photocopier— new competencies and expertise
does not mean that a worker should grew in their place.
be reclassified as “skilled.”
Understood in this way, argues
Moreover, Braverman found that Braverman, automation removes
while general levels of educational the need for some skills while
achievement have increased among creating a need for different, new
skills in their place. Technological
progress alone does not necessarily
lead to a decline in workers’ skill
levels. Neither does alienation
follow as a direct result.

Braverman was not arguing
nostalgically for a return to the
pre-industrial model of the craft
worker; on the contrary, he

230 HARRY BRAVERMAN

What Braverman means by the The alienation of the worker productivity is the separating out
degradation of work is the decline presents itself to management of what Braverman refers to as
in the number of jobs that require “conception” from “execution.”
a worker to conceptualize and as [a] problem in costs Invoking a biological metaphor,
execute a task. He argues the and controls. Braverman states that the workers
workforce has been reorganized are like a hand, whose every move
into a mass of workers, whose jobs Harry Braverman is controlled, supervised, and
require little conceptualization, corrected by the distant brain
and a smaller number of managers. overall labor process. Third, of management.
empowered by knowledge of the
The rise of management total labor process, management is The cold logic of capitalism
Influenced by the work of US able to control in highly exacting As the total range of skills
engineer and industrialist Frederick ways what it is that each individual possessed by workers diminishes
Taylor, who had developed a theory worker does. Careful monitoring over time, so in turn their value
of scientific management and and regulation of productivity levels decreases. Workers can be paid less
workflows, Braverman argues means that management is able because the tasks they perform are
that three novel and significant to intervene whenever productivity increasingly menial and unskilled.
developments have accelerated is perceived to be dipping, or Robbed of their expertise, they
and accentuated the de-skilling whenever a worker can be shown are more dispensable and, crucially,
of the labor force. to be underperforming. interchangeable. For Braverman,
the cruel and unforgiving logic of
First, knowledge and Braverman argues that the the capitalist system inextricably
information of the entire labor ultimate negative consequence ties his analysis to the concept of
process is known only to, and of organizing work in a manner social class. The deconstruction
closely controlled by, management that above all else emphasizes of craftsmanship among the labor
and not the workers. Second, efficiency, calculability, and force works to ensure that entire
and as a direct result of the first sections of the population are
development, the worker performs prevented from climbing the
his set task in the total division of social hierarchy.
labor on a “need-to-know” basis.
Workers are kept completely in Braverman’s study focuses
the dark about the impact of the primarily on industrial factory
tasks they perform and about work but his attention also turns
the role these tasks play in the to the de-skilling of office workers.

In Braverman’s metaphor, “Conception”: “Execution”:
managers are the brain and knowledge and workers are asked
workers the hand of all-seeing information about to perform mundane
management in the workplace. the overall labor tasks; they are kept
When labor is organized process is held by ignorant of all other
to maximize efficiency, management alone. aspects of work.
productivity, and profit,
there is a negative outcome
for the workers. Braverman
attributed this to the rise
of management, which
now observed, monitored,
controlled, and regulated
every action of the workforce.
The effects of technology
were first felt in factories;
today, even retail outlets
are supervised by distant,
centralized head offices.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 231

Harry Braverman

Female typists at a mail-order firm fear of censorship, to write such Harry Braverman was
in 1912. By the early 20th century the a penetrating and biting critique born in 1920 in New York to
profession of clerk had given way to of the injustices of industrial Polish-Jewish émigré parents.
large-scale, efficiently arranged, and capitalism and their impact on He attended college for one
scientifically managed offices. the majority of the workforce. year before leaving for
While Braverman was not the financial reasons. He later
He notes that control of the daily first or only thinker to identify and worked as an apprentice
round of activities involved in clerical denounce the relationship between coppersmith in Brooklyn,
work—including bookkeeping, automation and de-skilling, his where he developed a
scheduling, and the responsibility work was crucial for revitalizing powerful insight into the
that ensues from this—have been the analysis of work across a broad effects of science-based
degraded to endless paper-chasing, range of disciplines, including technology on the “de-
photocopying, and other menial history, economics, and political skilling” of the working class.
tasks. He also observes that science. Since the publication of
because—at the time he was Labor and Monopoly Capital, Deeply affected by his
writing—office workers in Britain Braverman’s ideas have continued experience, Braverman joined
and the US were typically female, to generate debate among the Socialist Workers Party
they could be paid less, which sociologists of work. Writing in (SWP) and absorbed himself
in turn reduces costs and 1979, US sociologist Michael in the work of Marx and
maximizes profit. Burawoy was strongly supportive other socialist thinkers of
of Braverman’s work, as was US the period. In 1953 he was
Expertise diminished sociologist Michael Cooley in his expelled from the SWP, and
Labor and Monopoly Capital is study of computer-aided design. went on to found the Socialist
considered a classic contribution Union and to become editor
to the discipline of sociology, While the conviction with of The American Socialist.
but it is the only academic book which Braverman presented his In 1963 Braverman finally
that Braverman ever wrote. The arguments has led to criticism completed a BA from the New
book’s influence on the application from some quarters (in the work School of Social Research.
of critical Marxist thinking to the of Robert Blauner, for example),
empirical study of industrial work his central ideas have survived Key works
has been profound. Like Marx, and been carried forward
Braverman never held a university in the work of Manuel Castells, 1974 Labor and Monopoly
post and it is perhaps for this very the highly influential Spanish Capital: The Degradation
reason that he was able, without sociologist of globalization and of Work in the Twentieth
the network society. ■ Century

Marxism is not hostile
to science and technology...
but to how they are used as

weapons of domination.
Harry Braverman

232

AUTOMATION INCREASES
THE WORKER’S CONTROL
OVER HIS WORK PROCESS

ROBERT BLAUNER (1929– )

IN CONTEXT Workers in different industries experience varying levels
of alienation in automated work processes...
FOCUS
Alienation ...those who ...those with
lack knowledge of and expert knowledge
KEY DATES control over technology
1844 Karl Marx introduces of technology
the concept of estrangement have high levels of have low levels of
or alienation from the world alienation.
in Economic and Philosophic alienation.
Manuscripts of 1844.
Knowledge of automation
1950–60 Increasing increases the worker’s control over work
industrialization of the
US economy leads to the processes and reduces alienation.
significant occupational
restructuring of society. A lienation occurs when to examine the possibility that
workers are disconnected alienation in the workplace can
1960 The concept of alienation from and lack control over be significantly reduced by the
is imported into US sociology their work, according to Karl Marx. effective use of technology.
by theorists from the neo- In his influential book on industrial
Marxist “Frankfurt School.” society, Alienation and Freedom: Blauner claims alienation
The Factory Worker and His is central to understanding the
1964 Robert Blauner’s Industry (1964), US sociologist negative impact of automation
work redirects the focus Robert Blauner draws heavily on workers during and after the
of US, French, and British on Marx’s concept of alienation Industrial Revolution. His text
sociologists on alienation critically assesses Marx’s claim
and automation.

2000–present Commercial
organizations such as Apple
and Microsoft seek to
empower workers by using
automated work processes.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 233

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Erich Fromm 188 ■ Daniel Bell 224–25 ■ Robert Blauner
Harry Braverman 226–31 ■ Arlie Hochschild 236–43 ■ Michael Burawoy 244–45
Robert Blauner is an emeritus
that all workers are necessarily Automated technology on car professor of sociology at
alienated due to the increased assembly lines should be organized the University of California,
automation of work. Blauner and deployed in ways that enable the Berkeley. He was awarded
suggests, on the contrary, that manufacturing workers to regain a his undergraduate degree
automation can actually facilitate, sense of control over their environment. from the University of Chicago
empower, and liberate workers. in 1948.
he proposes, because they possess
Using a wide range of data expert knowledge of the relevant Blauner was a staunch
(including statistics, interviews technology, which in turn is communist, and after
with workers, and attitudinal meaningful and fulfilling because graduating he worked in
surveys), Blauner examines four it furnishes them with a significant factories for five years, aiming
types of industry: craft printing, degree of control over their work to inspire a working-class
car assembly lines, textile experience and environment. revolution. Unsuccessful in
machine-tending, and chemical- those efforts, he completed
processing. Alienation levels are By contrast, the automated his MA and PhD at Berkeley
tested according to four criteria: technology used in car production in 1962. His PhD thesis
job control, social isolation, and in textile factories leads to became the 1964 study that
sense of self-estrangement, relatively high levels of alienation. established his reputation. In
and meaningfulness of work. These findings seem to contradict addition to his contributions
Blauner’s claim that greater to the study of alienation
Technology and alienation automation diminishes alienation. and work, Blauner has made
Blauner describes his results as To explain this, however, he argues penetrating analyses of race
conforming to an “inverted U that it is not technology itself that relations in the US.
curve.” According to his study, alienates workers, but a lack of
alienation is typically very low control over the way it is used, how Key works
among print workers. He suggests work is organized, and the nature of
that the use of machinery is the relationships between workers 1964 Alienation and Freedom:
empowering for these employees and management. The Factory Worker and His
because it provides them with Industry
greater control and autonomy. Blauner concludes that under 1972 Radical Oppression
The same is true for workers in the right organizational conditions, in America
chemical-processing plants: again, automation increases the worker’s 1989 Black Lives, White Lives:
these individuals are empowered, control over his work process and Three Decades of Race
diminishes a sense of alienation Relations in America
Alienation exists when in equal measure.
workers are unable to conducted by sociologists in
control their immediate Blauner’s study has greatly the US, as well as in Britain
influenced the sociology of work, and France during the 1970s and
work processes. as testified by follow-up studies 1980s. Furthermore, the “political”
Robert Blauner character of Blauner’s work
means studies of alienating work
environments have fed into, and
strongly influenced, commercial
working directives and policies.
The global technology firm Apple,
for example, is renowned for
investing heavily in training staff
to use Apple technology to enhance
their working experience as well as
their own personal lives. ■

234

THE ROMANTIC ETHIC
PROMOTES THE SPIRIT
OF CONSUMERISM

COLIN CAMPBELL (1940– )

IN CONTEXT W hy have Western Europe Consumerism (1987), intended as
and the US developed a sequel to Max Weber’s similarly
FOCUS consumer cultures? named and hugely influential
The Romantic ethic British sociologist Colin Campbell, The Protestant Ethic and the
emeritus professor at the University Spirit of Capitalism (1904–05).
KEY DATES of York, discusses this question in
1780–1850 The Romantic his important study, The Romantic Weber claims that the values
movement in Europe reacts Ethic and the Spirit of Modern of self-discipline and hard work,
to the overly rationalistic, which lie at the heart of modern
abstract ideals of the Age
of Enlightenment. The “Romantic ethic” These values
emphasizes intuition and are inculcated into the
1899 In The Theory of the middle class, who seek
Leisure Class, US social and the pursuit of pleasure authenticity through
economic thinker Thorstein and novel experience.
Veblen suggests that the purchase of
consumption is driven by consumer goods...
groups “emulating” one
another to gain social status. The Romantic ...but the novelty of
ethic promotes purchased goods soon
1904–05 Max Weber identifies wears off and a desire
a connection between the the spirit of
“Protestant work ethic” consumerism. for new products
and the rise of capitalism. takes over.

Present Scholars such as US
sociologist Daniel Bell and
Italian sociologist Roberta
Sassatelli draw heavily on
Colin Campbell’s ideas in
their studies of consumption.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 235

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ Herbert Marcuse 182–87 ■ Jean Baudrillard 196–99 ■
Thorstein Veblen 214–19 ■ Daniel Bell 224–25

Designer goods stimulate the desire The Romantic ethic was inculcated of this process for economies based
for purchase, possession, and for a into and carried forward by the on consumption are vast because
lifestyle far removed from the mundane burgeoning middle class, and by consumers are forever chasing the
realities of existence. But desire, by its women in particular, Campbell latest commodities.
very nature, is insatiable. argues. Within consumer culture
this ethic is expressed as a self- Campbell’s concept of the
capitalist societies, have their basis perpetuating loop: individuals Romantic ethic has had immense
in the Protestant work ethic of the project their desire for pleasure and influence on sociology and
16th and 17th centuries. Campbell, novelty onto consumer goods; they anthropology. His work not only
building on Weber’s work, advances then purchase and make use of dispels the overly simplistic view of
the theory that the emotions and those goods; but the appeal of the humans as necessarily disposed to
hedonistic desires that drive product quickly diminishes as the acquire things, but it also attempts
consumer culture are firmly rooted novelty factor and initial excitement to shed light on the more positive
in the ideals of 19th-century fade; the desire for excitement, aspects of consumer society.
Romanticism, which followed on fulfillment, and novelty is then
the heels of the Enlightenment and projected onto, and restimulated It is simply wrong, according
the Industrial Revolution. by, new consumer items. And to Campbell, to suggest that
so the cycle of consumption, consumerism is an inherently
Desire, illusion, and reality fleeting fulfillment, and ultimate bad thing. Instead, the pursuit
The Enlightenment conceived disillusionment, repeats itself. and projection of our innermost
of individuals as rational, hard- desires onto consumer goods form
working, and self-disciplined. But The engine of capitalism a fundamental part of our own self-
the Romantics saw this as a denial The cycle described by Campbell realization in the modern world.
of the very essence of humanity. is one of highs and lows for the
They stressed intuition above consumer. Consumer desire is the Campbell’s highly original
reason, and believed that the very engine of capitalism because and powerful correctives to more
individual should be free to pursue it drives individuals to search economically reductive and cynical
hedonistic pleasures and new and for that elusive yet satisfying accounts of consumerism have
exciting feelings. experience amid the endless tide of provided contemporary thinkers
new products. The consequences with fertile soil in which to develop
more positive and historically
informed appraisals of modern-day
consumer society. ■

Consumerism as mass deception

The uniqueness of Campbell’s They see the failed social and
focus on the Romantic ethic as political revolutions of the late
the key to modern consumerism 1960s as signifying the “death
lies in its engagement with the of Marxism” and therefore
impact of long-term historical also the triumph of capitalism.
processes. His ideas differ Barthes’ work on semiotics
greatly from those of the identifies the advertising
highly influential French post- industry as playing a key role
structuralist and postmodern in blinding consumers to their
thinkers such as Roland Barthes true wants and desires, whereas
and Jean Baudrillard a decade for Baudrillard the media is
or so earlier. responsible for overwhelming
the consumer and concealing
For them, unlike Campbell, the vacuous nature of modern
the triumph of consumer culture capitalist society.
is to be resisted at all costs.

IN PROCESSING PEOPLE

THE PRODUCT
IS A STATE OF

MIND

ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD (1940– )



238 ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD

IN CONTEXT W hen Karl Marx, in Das ‘Sincerity’ is detrimental to
Kapital, expressed one’s job, until the rules of
FOCUS concern about mother- salesmanship and business
Emotional labor and-child factory workers and the become a ‘genuine’ aspect
“human cost” of labor, he said they
KEY DATES had become an “instrument” of of oneself.
1867 Karl Marx completes the labor. This observation, and the Charles Wright Mills
first volume of Das Kapital, environment of brutalizing physical
which inspires Hochschild’s work, led to his alienation concept, Following the translation of Marx’s
concept of emotional labor. whereby lack of fulfillment and work into English in the 1960s,
control leads workers to feel alienation became a powerful
1959 Canadian sociologist disconnected and estranged. analytical tool for sociologists
Erving Goffman publishes trying to make sense of the
The Presentation of Self in Alongside Marx’s insights, two changes then taking place to
Everyday Life. models of emotion emerged in the working conditions in North
late 19th and early 20th century. America and Western Europe.
1960s The burgeoning service The “organismic” model, built
industries of Europe and from the work of Charles Darwin, A state of mind
North America start to be William James, and Sigmund Inspired by these various ideas,
heavily gendered toward Freud, identifies emotion as mainly and drawing upon women thinkers
women workers. a biological process: external such as Simone de Beauvoir, US
stimuli trigger instinctual feminist and sociologist Arlie
1970s Feminist thinkers begin responses that people express in Hochschild has made the analysis
to turn their attention to the similar ways. From the 1920s, John of the emotional dimensions of
negative consequences of Dewey, Hans Gerth, Charles Wright
capitalism for women. Mills, and Erving Goffman created
an “interactional” model. They
2011 Sociologists Ann Brooks accepted emotion had a biological
and Theresa Devasahayam component, but they maintained
publish Gender, Emotions that it is more interactive and
and Labour Markets, which differentiated by a range of social
combines Hochschild’s ideas factors: culture is involved in the
with globalization theory. formulation of emotion and people
manage feelings subjectively.

New service industries require workers Because women are stereotyped as
to possess “emotional resources.” more emotional, these industries

are heavily gendered toward
a female workforce.

Under capitalism, human Women workers are asked to
emotions are commodified: act in ways that create positive
emotional states to help ensure
in processing people, the
product is a state of mind. future custom.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 239

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ G.H. Mead 176–77 ■ Erving Goffman 190–95 ■ Harry Braverman 226–31 ■
Christine Delphy 312–17 ■ Ann Oakley 318–19

Children are exposed to “childhood
training of the heart,” says Hochschild.
Whereas girls learn to be caring and to
master aggression and anger, boys
mask fear and vulnerability.

human interaction her life’s work. appearance in order to produce selfhood is created during social
More specifically, she concentrates a proper state of mind in others. interaction. Only by interacting
on the ways in which social Whereas for Marx the individual with others—and managing the
and cultural factors condition in the factory becomes alienated way we present ourselves—are
the experience and display of from the products they create, individuals able to obtain a
emotions in capitalist society. Hochschild argued that in the personal sense of identity. In
service-based economy “the essence, our innermost sense of
Her work charts the rise of the product is a state of mind.” selfhood is inextricably bound up
service industries in North America with the social contexts in which
from the 1960s onward, and the In Hochschild’s view, the we are implicated.
emergence of forms of employment increasing use of emotionally based
in which the emotions of workers rather than manually based labor Hochschild extends this
have become marketable has a greater impact on women idea in a critical way by arguing
commodities sold for a wage: than men, because women are that emotions, as well as being
“emotional labor,” as she calls it. conditioned since childhood to something external—residing in
supply feelings. But she believes interactions between individuals
Hochschild says that her that this can come at a cost to and groups—are subject to self-
interest in how people manage the individual, who may become management too. Emotions and
emotions probably began when estranged from their own emotions, feelings are also tied directly to
she was growing up in a household which feel like they belong to their behavior and are experienced
where her diplomat parents acted work rather than to them. by individuals as they prepare
as hosts to foreign embassy staff. to act and interact with others.
Where, she wondered, did the Managing interaction
person end and the act begin? One of the major influences In a similar way to the sensory
Later, as a graduate, she was on Hochschild is symbolic faculty of hearing, “emotion
inspired by the chapter “The Great interactionist Erving Goffman. The communicates information,”
Salesroom” in Wright Mills’ White idea underpinning his work is that as Hochschild puts it. She likens
Collar, in which he argued that we emotion to what Freud referred ❯❯
sell our personality when selling
goods and services.

Hochschild felt that this had the
ring of truth, but that it missed the
sense of the active emotional labor
involved in the selling. Unlike
19th-century factory work, where
output could be quantified and it
mattered little whether you loved or
hated what you made, employment
in a service industry is qualitatively
different. It means that “the
emotional style of offering the
service is part of the service itself,”
which makes it necessary for the
worker to sustain a certain outward

240 ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD

to as a “signal function,” whereby ways is purposively enacted. She Many women work in service-
messages such as fear or anxiety calls this process “emotional work,” industry jobs, where employers ask
are relayed to the brain, indicating and uses it to describe how people them to exude real emotion to satisfy
the presence of danger, and so on. alter and intensify particular customers. All in the line of, as
Hochschild says that: “From feeling feelings, while simultaneously Hochschild puts it, “being nice.”
we discover our own viewpoint on trying to suppress unpleasant
the world.” Emotions engender a emotions. She identifies three main although this is always possible.
mental component that reconciles ways that people work to produce She is attempting to demonstrate
past events with actual situations emotion: cognitive emotional work, the ways and extent to which
in which we put or find ourselves. bodily emotional work, and people interact and work together
expressive emotional work. to define a particular social
In addition to putting these situation and how, in turn, this
emotional dimensions at the heart In cognitive emotional work, feeds back into, and intimately
of social interaction, Hochschild individuals use images, ideas, shapes, their emotional states.
stresses the myriad ways in which and thoughts in order to call forth,
emotions are mediated and shaped or stifle, the various emotions Hochschild maintains
by wider processes. Society and associated with those ideas. Bodily that rationalization and the
culture intervene in the emotional emotional work refers to any marginalization of the more
economy of the individual through attempt to control the physical emotional aspects of human
socialization. For example, through reaction accompanying a particular behavior have meant that the
primary socialization people learn emotional state, such as sweating often tacit rules that underpin
to make sense of their emotions when anxious, or shaking when interpersonal conduct have begun
and, with varying degrees of angry. Expressive emotional work to develop in new directions. To
success, manipulate and manage involves attempting to manage explain this, she introduces the
them. Hochschild is saying that the public display of particular notion of “feeling rules.” These
emotions are not simply things that emotions with a view to realizing are socially learned and culturally
happen to passive human actors. a specific feeling, or set of feelings. specific norms that individuals
Rather, individuals are actively draw upon in order to negotiate and
involved in producing and creating The purpose of Hochschild’s guide the display and experience
their feelings and emotions. typology of emotions is to highlight of emotions and feelings. In modern
the extent to which individuals are capitalist societies, there are two
Emotional work and rules actively involved in shaping and types: display rules and emotional
As individuals, claims Hochschild, managing their inner emotional rules. Display rules are, like
we “do” emotions. Feeling states in order to call forth certain “surface acting,” the outward
emotional and acting in emotional feelings. Earlier work in this area
focused on outward appearances:
...the action is in the body the physical behavior and verbal
language, the put-on sneer, the cues we use to communicate
emotions; what Hochschild refers to
posed shrug, the controlled as “surface acting.” She extends her
sigh. This is surface acting. analysis to focus on “deep acting,”
referring to “method acting” when
Arlie Russell trying to explain it: “Here, display
Hochschild is a natural result of working on
feeling; the actor does not try to
seem happy or sad but rather
expresses spontaneously, as the
Russian theater director Constantin
Stanislavski urged, a real feeling
that has been self-induced.”

It is not Hochschild’s intention
to suggest that people consciously
manipulate or deceive one another,

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 241

verbal and nonverbal cues people physically—in terms of their In the case of the flight
communicate to one another. personal appearance—and attendant, the emotional
Emotional rules refer to the level emotionally. Keen to increase
of people’s emotions, the directions passenger numbers, Delta focused style... is... the service.
they take, and how long they on employing young, attractive, Arlie Russell
endure. For example, if a loved single women, although a small Hochschild
one dies, there is a strong social number of men were employed too.
expectation that the grieving The appeal of the women was that feelings are actually present.”
process will take time to run its they were perceived to embody, Training manuals and guidelines
course. In essence, emotional in the most literal ways, the very were issued so that flight
rules exist that influence what specific ideals and image the attendants could perform emotional
constitutes an appropriate corporation wanted to project to labor and produce authentic
response to death, how powerful customers. Especially important performances. The manuals taught
the response should be, and the was that flight attendants did not an array of sophisticated strategies
length of time it should last. use surface acting when displaying with which to produce corporately
emotion. In order to ensure calculated emotional states and
Delta Airlines passengers felt the emotional feeling repertoires. If these were
The interconnected notions of experience they were receiving genuine, passengers would feel ❯❯
emotional labor and emotional work was authentic, flight attendants
were explored by Hochschild in her were taught to practice “deep
most celebrated book, The acting” by producing within
Managed Heart: Commercialization themselves emotional displays that
of Human Feeling (1983). The study were sincere and genuine. Delta
focuses primarily on Delta Airlines. Airlines recognized that authentic
She demonstrates that the airline displays of emotion and emotional
consistently hired people who it performances are far easier to
perceived could be controlled perform and sustain “when the

I’m tired, fed up, and You’re my guest and
I want to go home. I’m happy to help you in

any way I can.

Champagne, sir? Emotional labor is,
according to Hochschild, the
Surface acting Deep acting “commercialization of human
feeling.” Delta Airlines, she
says, trained recruits so
that they could transcend
“surface acting,” whereby
postures or expressions are
deceits and feel faked. The
company urged trainees to
imagine the cabin as their
home, into which they
welcomed customers as
“personal guests.” Once staff
had mastered the art of “deep
acting,” feigning sincerity
became unnecessary as real
feelings were self-induced.

242 ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD

reassured, happy, and at ease. occurred: trying to manage the Women make a
By evoking in passengers positive very real disparity between their resource out of feeling
emotional states and feelings of personal feelings and the emotional
comfort and safety, Delta believed states they strived to evoke in and offer it to men.
it could secure the loyalty and passengers, typically led to one of Arlie Russell
future custom of passengers. two outcomes among them—either Hochschild
they began to resent themselves
Ingenious and innovative as the emotionally or they developed entered into the workforce, with
corporate philosophy might at first resentment for the job. many joining the burgeoning
seem, Hochschild argues that the service industries. For Hochschild,
deep acting and emotional labor Hochschild claims that even this is not necessarily a positive
demanded of flight attendants if individuals actively engage development, because it serves
was ultimately damaging to in strategies aimed at self- to push the highly uneven division
their psychological well-being. preservation, resenting the work of emotional-labor characteristics
Constantly having to control, as opposed to themselves, the net of modern capitalist society further
manage, and subvert their own result is the same. The emotional in the direction of women. In
feelings, while simultaneously and psychological well-being of making this argument, Hochschild
working to produce and display the individual is harmed, with claims that women are more
a range of positively authentic the result they feel increasingly inclined to make a resource out
emotions, proved harmful. alienated from their innermost of feeling, which they in turn
self and their emotions too. sell back to men. Although the
She identified two particularly increasing numbers of working
negative consequences arising Gender inequality women seem to testify to a shift
from long-term emotional labor. As a feminist sociologist, in the occupational status of
First, the fusing together of the Hochschild’s study of Delta also women in modern society, a closer
flight attendants’ private sense of provides a window onto the ways examination of the statistics shows
selfhood with their public self—the in which wider gender inequalities that women are far more likely
roles they played as attendants— are sustained and reproduced than men to work in the service
was liable to lead to emotional and within US society. Since the 1960s, industries—most retail associates,
psychological burnout. Second, a increasing numbers of women have call-center operators, and hotel
sense of self-estrangement often and bar staff are women.

Within modern capitalist
society, it falls to women to
undertake the vast majority of the
total emotional labor. In the long
term, this is a negative and

Many nurses claim their emotional
labor is invisible to some colleagues.
They give loving, daily care to patients,
often in an attempt to compensate for
the insensitivity of more senior staff.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 243

unintended consequence of Arlie Russell
capitalism because it makes Hochschild
women more emotionally prone to
burnout, and psychologically and Arlie Russell Hochschild
socially susceptible to feelings of was born in 1940 and is a
self-estrangement and alienation. US feminist and sociologist
of work and emotion. Her
Insatiable capitalism Call-center operators experience parents were both US
Hochschild’s notion of emotional high levels of emotional burnout and diplomats. Hochschild claims
work and her analysis of the distress, induced by their emotional that growing up in a social
emotional labor performed by labor, according to research by Dutch milieu defined by the need for
airline flight attendants marks sociologist Danielle van Jaarsveld. people to control and manage
a key moment in the history of their emotions in very subtle
sociological thinking. For Marx, number of occupations, ranging and convincing ways instilled
capitalism leads to physical and from nurses and caregivers to within her a fascination with
mental degradation for the worker waitresses, telemarketers, and the emotional dimensions of
as the nature of work becomes call-center operators. modern social life.
increasingly repetitive, menial, and
specialized. Social thinker Harry Hochschild gives particular Hochschild obtained her
Braverman argued that automation credit to a cross-cultural study of MA and PhD at the University
of the workplace leads to the steady emotion management, between of California, Berkeley. During
deconstruction of a once highly Japan and the US, by Aviad Raz in this time she became a
skilled workforce. Remaining with his 2002 book Emotions at Work. feminist and developed an
the Marxist tradition, Hochschild She relates his story about “smile ongoing interest in the dual
demonstrates that even the most training” in which the Japanese roles women play as workers
personal aspects of individual managers at Tokyo Dome and primary caregivers in
selfhood—our emotions, feelings, Corporation were not happy with capitalist society.
and affective life—are turned into the weak, “spiritless, externally-
commodities and exploited by imposed smiles” that they thought The overtly political pitch
the capitalist market in order to managers in the US were prepared of Hochschild’s work has
make profit. Her ideas have been to settle for. Instead, the Japanese strongly influenced feminist
developed by many other scholars felt it necessary to appeal to the thinking in the US and
involved with the sociology of work underlying chi (“spirit”) of Western Europe. It has also
and emotions, and applied to a the workers. This they enticed led to an ongoing dialogue
from their employees through the with captains of industry
...when a worker abandons her culturally powerful force of shame. and high-level politicians.
work smile, what kind of tie Cameras were placed at the cash
remains between her smile registers of unfriendly sales clerks, Hochschild’s work has
and her self? whose videotaped behavior was informed social policy at a
Arlie Russell shown later to their fellow workers. number of levels, including the
Hochschild US state of California’s Child
The smile may now be a global Development Policy Board
fad but Raz confirms Hochschild’s as well as former US vice
insight that capitalism exploits president Al Gore’s working
emotional aspects of culture. ■ families’ policy directives.

Key works

1983 The Managed Heart:
Commercialization of Human
Feeling
2003 The Commercialization
of Intimate Life: Notes from
Home and Work
2012 The Outsourced Self:
Intimate Life in Market Times

244

SPONTANEOUS
CONSENT COMBINES
WITH COERCION

MICHAEL BURAWOY (1947– )

IN CONTEXT Management pacifies workers with the illusion of choice
by playing workplace “games,” such as...
FOCUS
Manufacturing consent ...“collective ...an internal ...a “piece-rate
bargaining” that job market that pay system” in
KEY DATES co-opts rather reduces conflict which workers
1979 The effects of the global than alienates
oil recession impact on US by enabling compete
manufacturing industries, workers. mobility. to increase
causing tension between production.
workers and management.
Workers play along with these “games” in order to establish
1981 British sociologist consensual workplace relations.
Anthony Giddens refers
to Michael Burawoy’s book, Consent combines with coercion to ensure
Manufacturing Consent: workers are controlled.
Changes in the Labor
Process Under Monopoly W hy workers in the sociologist Michael Burawoy
Capitalism, as “one of the capitalist system work analyses from within a Marxist
most significant contributions as hard as they do and theoretical framework. From this
to industrial sociology.” how the interests of workers and perspective, the interests of labor
management are negotiated are and capital are seen as being in
1998 In “Manufacturing issues that Anglo-American fundamental opposition; Burawoy
Dissent? Burawoy in a Franco-
Japanese Workshop,” French
sociologist Jean-Pierre Durand
and British sociologist Paul
Stewart apply Burawoy’s
concept of manufacturing
consent to a Nissan
automobile plant.

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 245

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Michel Foucault 52–55 ■ Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Michael Burawoy
Anthony Giddens 148–49 ■ Harry Braverman 226–31 ■ Robert Blauner 232–33

contends that modern management workers play are not attempts to Michael Burawoy is an Anglo-
now manufactures and channels reduce job discontent or oppose American Marxist sociologist
workers’ consent to work harder. management, because often lower- at the University of California,
level management participates in Berkeley. He obtained his
He rejects Marx’s explanation the games and the enforcement first degree in 1968 in
that workers are simply exploited of their rules. Playing the game mathematics from the
and coerced into working as hard creates consent among workers University of Cambridge,
as they do. The rise in the power about the rules upon which England, before going on
of labor unions and workers’ workplace games are based—and, to complete his doctorate in
collectives has done a lot to curb crucially, the arrangement of social sociology at the University
the use of power by managers, relations (owners–managers– of Chicago in 1976.
which was once exerted through workers) that define the rules.
the bullying of workers. Burawoy Burawoy’s academic career
acknowledges that within any Moreover, because managers has changed direction and
organization there is always and workers are both involved focus over time. His early
coercion and consent but their in playing games, the numerous work involved a number
relative proportions and mode of opposing interests that define the of ethnographic studies of
expression have changed. social relations between the two industrial workplaces in the
are obscured, ensuring that US as well as in Hungary
Management, he claims, now manager–worker conflict is kept to and post-Soviet Russia.
seeks to control workers by creating a minimum. Burawoy claims such In the latter part of his
restrictive social relations and methods of manufacturing and career he turned away from
organizational structures that give eliciting cooperation and consent the factory floor to focus
them the “illusion of choice,” but are more effective than the coercive on raising the public profile of
that ultimately serve to mask and measures of early capitalism. sociology by using sociological
maintain unequal power relations. theories to address prominent
Burawoy’s work is a seminal social issues.
Workplace “games” contribution to the sociology
Burawoy worked in a factory of industrial relations and has In 2010, in recognition of
called Allied Corporation, where inspired follow-up studies, his considerable contribution
he researched his ideas about including those by British social to the discipline, and in
the “games” played within the thinkers Paul Blyton and Stephen particular to promoting
workplace, such as collective Ackroyd, focusing on workplace sociology more widely to
bargaining (negotiation of wages resistance and coercion. ■ the general public, Burawoy
and conditions of work), ensuring was elected President of the
internal job mobility for workers, Conflict and consent are International Sociological
and the piece-rate pay system, in not primordial conditions Association (ISA) at the
which workers are paid more if they XVII ISA World Congress
produce above quota. This system, but products of the of Sociology. He is editor
he says, gives the illusion that organization of work. of Global Dialogue, the
work is a game; the workers are Michael Burawoy magazine of the International
the players and compete with Sociological Association.
one another to “make out”—surpass
their expected production quotas. Key works
Job satisfaction is achieved by
mastering the intricate and often 1979 Manufacturing Consent:
devious and informal strategies Changes in the Labor Process
workers use to “make out” under Under Monopoly Capitalism
various production conditions. 1985 The Politics of
Burawoy claims that the games Production: Factory Regimes
Under Capitalism and
Socialism
2010 Marxism Meets Bourdieu

246

THINGS MAKE US
JUST AS MUCH AS
WE MAKE THINGS

DANIEL MILLER (1954– )

IN CONTEXT Modern societies are S ociologists, drawing on
materialistic and the pioneering work of
FOCUS Thorstein Veblen in the
Material culture consumerist. late 19th century, have traditionally
conceived of consumer goods
KEY DATES Consumerism is often symbolically, as objects people
1807 In Phenomenology of perceived negatively—as a acquire to communicate specific
Spirit, German philosopher signifier of wastefulness and meanings to one another—for
Georg Hegel outlines his superficiality, for example. example, the type of lifestyle
theory of “objectification,” they lead and the amount of
which describes how people But material objects social status they possess.
transform their labor into and possessions can help
material objects (a house, shape and strengthen However, British sociologist
for example, is the result of Daniel Miller in his book Stuff,
considerable collective labor). people’s self-identity published in 2010, points out
and their interactions and that the myriad ways in which
1867 Karl Marx introduces his relationships with others. consumer goods inform personal
ideas about the fetishization identity, selfhood, and interactions
of commodities in Das Kapital. Things make us with others have been understood
just as much as primarily in negative terms.
1972 French sociologist Pierre we make things. Consumerism is, he says,
Bourdieu publishes Outline of considered by the majority of
A Theory of Practice, which commentators to be wasteful
examines the life and material and bad; desiring consumer
culture of the Kabyle Berber goods is thought to be superficial
people in Algeria. and morally reprehensible; and
consumerism is alienating and
2004 Finnish sociologist socially divisive—it separates
Kaj Ilmonen examines how the “haves” from the “have-nots”
people externalize a part of and can lead to serious social
themselves in the material problems, including theft.
objects they own.
Miller puts a very different
slant on things by emphasizing
the various positive ways in which
material artifacts contribute to

WORK AND CONSUMERISM 247

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Herbert Marcuse 182–87 ■ Thorstein Veblen 214–19 ■
Colin Campbell 234–35 ■ Theodor W. Adorno 335

making us who we are and how how ongoing discussions with Stuff... achieves its mastery
they mediate in our relationships family members enable him to of us precisely because we
and interactions with others. find a compromise with regard
to furnishing and decoration. constantly fail to notice
Rethinking the house what it does.
Miller gives the example of his Miller claims that he and his
own family home. The architectural family imagine and relate to the Daniel Miller
style and physical design, he says, house as though it were a family
feed into and shape his identity member, with a unique identity sustainability of a materialistic,
in relation to the property, but they and its own needs. His argument consumer culture, Miller’s work
also affect the interactions with here is that the materiality of the is thought by many, including
and between family members. house is not necessarily oppressive, sociologists Fernando Dominguez
alienating, or divisive; on the Rubio and Elizabeth B. Silva, to
His property retains “many contrary, it not only positively provide a provocative riposte to
of the original features,” including shapes the relationships of the views that denigrate material
an oak staircase, fireplaces, and family to it, but also facilitates culture in society. Miller’s ideas are
window surrounds. These physical interaction and increasing permeating sociological analysis
and aesthetic features frame his solidarity between family members. and inform part of the increasing
experience of and relationship interest in the examination of
to the house, he says. For example, A counterbalance material objects (the “materiality
his predilection for furniture and Miller’s work is designed to provide of cultural forms”), spearheaded by
design by the popular Swedish an alternative to the accounts of French sociologist Bruno Latour. ■
furnishing store IKEA creates consumerism given by Frankfurt
a tension within him: he feels School thinkers such as Herbert
that his taste for the modern, Marcuse and Theodor W. Adorno,
clinical, and clean lines that are who read mass consumer
characteristic of this brand means culture as “symptomatic of a
that he has “demeaned” and loss of depth in the world.” At a
betrayed the house, that it deserves time when the global economic
someone with “better taste.” To and environmental crises have
resolve this tension, he describes cast serious doubt over the

The denim phenomenon

Tight blue jeans are popular in Since 2007, British sociologist Woodward has found that the
Brazil because they are thought to Sophie Woodward, in collaboration appeal of denim is inextricably
enhance the natural curvature of with Miller and other sociologists, bound up with the cultural
a woman’s buttocks. has been interested in blue denim mores and frames of meaning
as a phenomenon of consumerism. specific to particular locales. In
She suggests that despite being London, England, for example,
available everywhere, denim blue jeans are often used by
garments are often revered as many different types of people
highly personal items, with which to resolve anxieties about
their owners have an intimate what to wear—their anonymity
relationship—a favorite denim and ubiquity protect the wearer
jacket or pair of jeans, for example. from negative judgement. In
Brazil, however, jeans are often
Drawing on ethnographic worn by women to emphasize
studies of denim jeans as fashion their sensuality.
items throughout the world,

248

FEMINIZATION HAS
HAD ONLY A MODEST
IMPACT ON REDUCING
GENDER INEQUALITIES

TERI LYNN CARAWAY

IN CONTEXT More women are entering—and feminizing—the workforce.

FOCUS Although globalization has helped to
The feminization of work erode men’s domination of the economy,
the unequal gender division of labor persists.
KEY DATES
From the 1960s The Significant feminization of the industrialized
rise of globalization and economy can occur only if...
industrialization in the
developing world attracts ...labor ...women are ...the trade
the attention of feminist demand more available unions either
scholars of work. outstrips the for work due to support the
capacity of the better access access of women
1976 Michel Foucault’s male workforce or are unable to
The History of Sexuality, available. to higher exclude them
Volume I: An Introduction education and from “male”
claims that gender roles occupations.
and relations are socially childcare.
constructed discourses.

1986 Sylvia Walby publishes
Patriarchy at Work: Patriarchal
and Capitalist Relations in
Employment.

1995 R.W. Connell’s fluid
conception of gender
categories as things that
are flexible and open to
change is articulated in
Masculinities.