#  Sociology 1136: Work and Culture 

 



**Semester:** Fall

**Offered:** 2024

This course looks at work and culture from both the bottom-up and the top-down. What does work mean from the perspective of workers versus employers—and when do these perspectives align or diverge? Under what circumstances are work cultures a source of identity, meaning, and fulfillment? In what contexts are they used for control and domination? We will examine the varieties of culture at work by comparing corporate culture, craft culture, and caring labor. The course will then turn to contemporary forms of work, which are often characterized by flexibility, contingency, and insecurity. We will examine flexibility in working-class jobs and gig work alongside parallel developments among high-tech engineers and investment bankers. How does flexible labor shape workers’ identities? What does it mean to be an independent contractor or “entrepreneur” in finance versus trucking? How is joblessness and unemployment experienced in different contexts? Lastly, we will examine workplace collectivities and how they relate to conflict on the job. How do cultures of solidarity compare among factory workers, gig workers, tech workers, and teachers? The course will focus mainly on work in American culture with some attention to comparative context. Throughout the course we will explore class-based differences in work cultures, which at times are significant and salient and at other times seem to disappear.



 



 

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