Introduction. Labor is the purposeful activity of people aimed at creating material and cultural values.
This section reveals the essence of labor as a broad social process. Social functions and forms of labor are identified, and its social quality is determined.
The sociological aspect of labor relations is compared with the functional approach. Types of social and labor relations are distinguished depending on the content, subjects of activity, method of communication, scope of power and other reasons.
The content and types of labor adaptation, its main stages, and the conditions for full adaptation of the subject in the work collective are determined.
A definition of social control in the sphere of labor is given, its main functions are highlighted. A classification of types and forms of social control in the workforce, types of social norms and sanctions is given.
Social and labor relations are explained using the concepts of job satisfaction, employment, unemployment, mobility, and migration.
This section also introduces the basic methods of resolving labor conflicts and the principles of analyzing the results of economic activity.
^ 3.1 Labor as a basic socio-economic process:
social essence of labor, classification
social and labor relations.
Labor is the basis and an indispensable condition for human life. By influencing the natural environment, changing and adapting it to their needs, people not only ensure their existence, but also create conditions for the development and progress of society. The labor process is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The main forms of its manifestation are the expenditure of human energy, the interaction of a worker with the means of production and the production interaction of workers with each other. The role of labor in the development of man and society lies in the fact that in the process of labor not only material and spiritual values are created that are intended to meet people’s needs, but also the workers themselves develop, acquire skills, reveal their abilities, replenish and enrich knowledge. The creative nature of labor finds its expression in the emergence of new ideas, progressive technologies, more advanced and highly productive tools, new types of products, materials, energy, which, in turn, lead to the development of needs. In the process of labor, labor relations arise between carriers of living labor. They can be considered in two aspects: functional and sociological
Functional the aspect of labor relations involves identifying the required number of workers, the proportions of their professional and qualified composition based on the necessary time spent on the production of a certain product of labor, the labor intensity of manufacturing the product, etc.
Sociological aspect of labor relations means identifying equality and inequality between participants in the labor process, the social status of individual subjects and groups of workers, their interests, motives, labor behavior, etc.
Labor is not only an economic, but also a fundamental social factor that determines all the life aspirations of modern society. Labor determines economic activity and social structure, the most important factors in the socialization of the individual, the culture of society, the way of life of people, the level of their material well-being, etc. By interacting with each other in the labor process, people enter into a wide network of social and labor relations. Thanks to them, the results of economic activity are distributed (the economic function of labor relations) , employees are given the opportunity to participate in the affairs of the enterprise (democratic function), conditions are provided for subjects for their integration into public life ( social function) . Among the variety of social and labor relations, their characteristic types and types are distinguished.
The main types of social and labor relations include:
1. Paternalistic relations. They are characterized by strong regulation on the part of the state or enterprise administration.
2. Partnership relations are based on contractual regulation, taking into account the interests of all parties involved.
3. Competitive relations express the desire to obtain unilateral advantages without taking into account the interests of the other party.
4. Solidarity relations presuppose shared responsibility and mutual assistance based on the common interests of the parties.
5. Subsidiary relations mean the desire of subjects for personal responsibility for their actions and achieving their goals.
6. Discriminatory relations are based on arbitrariness, illegal restriction of the rights of subjects of social and labor relations.
7. Conflict relations express the aggravation of contradictions between the subjects of social and labor relations.
I also highlight types of social and labor relations (Table 3.1.1)
Table 3.1.1 Types of social and labor relations
| № | Basis of classification | Types of relationships |
| 1 | By content of activity | Production-functional Professional qualifications Social and organizational |
| 2 | By subjects of relations | Interorganizational (interproduction) Intra-organizational (intra-production) |
| 3 | By the nature of income distribution | According to labor contribution Not in accordance with labor contribution |
| 4 | By way of communication | Impersonal (mediated) Personal (direct) |
| 5 | By volume of power | Horizontally Vertically |
| 6 | According to the degree of regulation | Formal (official) Informal (unofficial) |
The social essence of labor is expressed, first of all, through social functions and forms of labor, as well as the social quality of labor. Basic social functions of labor.
1. Creation of social wealth (material and spiritual).
2. Realization of potential social wealth (natural minerals, intellectual potential of society).
3. Development, self-expression and self-affirmation of personality.
Labor is realized in such social forms as socialized labor, small-group labor, and individual labor.
The social quality of labor consists in the impact of a worker’s work activity on his social roles, social status, interests, educational and professional qualification levels, and other social characteristics. This impact is due to the influence of tools, technology, working conditions, forms of labor organization, etc.
Nature of work reflects the way the producer connects with the means of production, determined by the property relations prevailing in a given society. Thus, in a slave-owning society, the slave and the means of labor were united as the property of the slave owner. And this gave rise to the worker’s personal dependence on the one who appropriated the results of his work. In a capitalist society, a worker can connect with the means of labor by selling his labor power and remaining personally free. Thus, labor by its nature can be slave, corvee, hired (Sokolova G.N., 2002).
Attitude to work , according to G.N. Sokolova , – complex social and labor phenomenon. This is a characteristic of the type of spiritual connection of an individual with an object, means and product of labor, as well as with the production environment. Its main elements are:
Motives and orientations of labor behavior;
Real or actual work behavior;
Verbal work behavior (employees’ assessment of their work situation).
Among the indicators of attitude towards work, there are objective indicators (responsibility, conscientiousness, initiative, discipline, etc.) and subjective indicators (overall job satisfaction, partial satisfaction with individual elements of the labor process: wages, working conditions, relationships in the team, etc. .).
Attitudes towards work are influenced by a number of factors: production and non-production. Production factors include: pay and working conditions; labor organization; production independence; relationships in the team, etc. Among the non-production factors of attitude towards work, the following are distinguished: the standard of living of workers; educational and professional level of employees; work experience; development of social infrastructure; state of labor morale, etc.
The concept of labor content expresses the production and technical side of the connection of a worker with the means of labor, characterizes the labor process as the interaction of a person with nature (tools and objects of labor). Contents of work represents a set of actions performed by an employee and their relationship, the composition of specific labor functions. The following labor functions of an employee are distinguished: energy; technological; control and regulatory; managerial; informational. Using manual technology, man exchanged substances with nature through a mediating function; machine technology allowed man to exchange substances with nature through a regulatory function; the modern scientific and technological revolution gives him the opportunity to control the internal mechanism of natural phenomena and objects with the help of the controlling function (Sokolova G.N., 2002).
^ Content of work - this is the saturation of his mental activity, an expression of the complexity, diversity of work functions performed, and the intellectual and psychological characteristics of work.
The main factor influencing changes in the structure of labor functions is scientific and technological progress. Under its influence, the content and meaningfulness of work change.
^ Working conditions is a set of socio-economic, technical and organizational, socio-hygienic and socio-psychological conditions that affect a person’s health and performance, his attitude towards work, the degree of job satisfaction, production efficiency, standard of living and personal development.
^ Job satisfaction - this is the evaluative attitude of a person or group of people to their own work activity, its various aspects, the most important indicator of an employee’s adaptation at a given enterprise.
There are a number of fairly specific meanings of job satisfaction, reflecting its role, functions, consequences in socio-economic life, in organization and management.
1. As a result of studying people’s evaluative attitudes towards well-being in everyday life, the socio-economic system, and social climate, it was found that work and career are of the greatest importance to them, along with such values as health, personal life, and good leisure, often ranking in this ranking first position. In a word, job satisfaction is, first of all, social satisfaction, the most important indicator of the quality of life of individuals and groups, the population, and the nation. The questions “how are we living?” and “how do we work?” largely coincide for some people in their youth, for others in adulthood.
2. Job satisfaction has functional and production significance. It affects the quantitative and qualitative results of work, the urgency and accuracy of completing tasks, and commitment to other people. Attitude towards work can be based on the employee’s self-assessment of his business qualities and performance. At the same time, self-satisfaction and self-dissatisfaction, depending on the specific case, can have a positive and negative effect on work.
3. The employer’s concern for people’s satisfaction with their work determines some essential types of managerial behavior and labor relations in general. The employer is often skeptical about the production and economic effect of any measures to humanize labor and considers their financing irrational. Funds for these purposes are usually spent under pressure from trade unions, the working masses or legal authorities.
4. Satisfactory, from the employee’s point of view, the nature and working conditions are the most important factor in the authority of the manager. For workers, the best administration is the one that can make their work better.
5. Job satisfaction is often an indicator of staff turnover and the need for appropriate action to prevent it.
6. Depending on job satisfaction, the demands and aspirations of employees increase or decrease, including in relation to remuneration for work (satisfaction can reduce criticality with respect to remuneration).
7. Job satisfaction is a universal criterion for explaining and interpreting a variety of actions of individual workers and work groups. It determines the style, method, manner of communication between the administration and the workforce. In other words, the behavior of satisfied and dissatisfied people differs, and the management of satisfied and dissatisfied people also differs.
^ Labor adaptation and social control
in the work team
Labor adaptation is a social process of a person’s mastering a new work situation, in which, unlike the biological one, both the person and the work environment actively influence each other and are adaptive systems. When entering a job, a person is actively involved in the system of professional and socio-psychological relations of the work collective, assimilates new social and labor roles, values, norms, coordinates his individual position with the goals and objectives of the work collective, thereby subordinating his behavior to the requirements of the enterprise. .
There are primary and secondary labor adaptation. Primary occurs when an employee initially enters the work environment, secondary occurs when changing a workplace, profession, position, etc.
Labor adaptation has a complex structure and represents the unity of professional, socio-psychological, social-organizational and cultural-everyday adaptation.
1. Professional adaptation is expressed in mastering professional skills, developing the necessary professional qualities, acquiring professional skills, etc.
2. Socio-psychological adaptation consists in a person mastering the socio-psychological characteristics of a work organization, entering into the system of relationships that has developed in it, and positive interaction with members of the organization.
3. Social-organizational adaptation means mastering by a new subject the organizational structure of the organization, work routine, work and rest schedule, and features of the management system.
4. Psychophysiological adaptation is the process of a person mastering the conditions and rhythm of work, sanitary and hygienic comfort, psychophysiological stress of work, etc.
5. Cultural and everyday adaptation is the participation of new members of the workforce in activities traditional for a given enterprise outside of working hours.
During the adaptation process, an employee goes through three main stages: 1) familiarization with the work situation; 2) adaptation to the work situation; 3) association with the work situation.
Indicators of the degree of adaptation of an employee to the work environment are: efficiency and quality of work; assimilation of social and labor information; labor activity; job satisfaction, etc.
The process of labor adaptation can be influenced by both objective and subjective factors.
Objective factors of labor adaptation include conditions beyond the control of the employee: level of labor organization; labor automation; working conditions; scale of the workforce; its location, etc.
Subjective (personal) factors include: socio-demographic characteristics of the employee (gender, age, education, qualifications, work experience, social status); socio-psychological characteristics (level of aspirations, hard work, self-control, sociability, etc.); sociological (degree of professional interest, degree of material and moral interest in the efficiency and quality of work, the presence of an attitude towards advanced training, etc.)
One of the conditions facilitating labor adaptation is professional selection of personnel. Its purpose is to determine a person's suitability to perform a specific job.
Professional selection involves a description of the profession, drawing up a job description of the workplace, as well as a personality map reflecting the individual’s natural data, his inclinations, social, psychological and physiological characteristics.
Another condition for full-fledged labor adaptation is the availability of opportunities for the professional growth of the employee and his career. The presence of prospects for advancement up the professional and career ladder contributes to the speedy initial labor adaptation of young specialists.
In the process of industrial adaptation, the personal potential of the employee plays an important role (Fig. 3.1.2). This is a set of certain traits and qualities of an employee that form a certain type of behavior: self-confidence, sociability, the ability to assert oneself, poise, etc. that is, personal potential characterizes a person’s internal physical and spiritual energy, his activity position aimed at creative self-expression and self-realization.
Researchers note that frontline workers have the following traits: energy, the ability to manage their emotions, a willingness to openly express their opinions, and the ability to change their point of view under the influence of arguments, but not force.
Social control plays an important role in regulating the life of the work collective. Social control is called a special institution of society, designed to prevent and correct those social deviations that can disorganize public life.
In the process of work, people enter into certain social relationships,
interacting with each other. Social interactions in the world of work are a form
social connections, realized in the exchange of activities and mutual action. Objective
the basis for interaction between people is the commonality or divergence of their interests, close
or distant goals, views. Mediators of interaction between people in the world of work,
its intermediate links are tools and objects of labor, material and
spiritual benefits. Constant interaction of individuals or communities in the process
labor activity in certain social conditions forms specific
social relations.
Social relations are relationships between members of social communities and
these communities regarding their social status, lifestyle and way of life, in
ultimately, regarding the conditions for the formation and development of personality, social
communities. They manifest themselves in the position of certain groups of workers in labor
process, communication connections between them, i.e. in mutual exchange of information for
influence the behavior and performance of others, as well as to evaluate one’s own
own position, which influences the formation of interests and behavior of these groups.
These relations are inextricably linked with labor relations and are conditioned by them
initially. For example, workers get used to a labor organization and adapt due to
objective need and thus enter into labor relations regardless of
who will work next to you, who the leader is, what his style of activity is. However
then each employee manifests himself in his own way in relationships with each other, with
the manager, in relation to work, the order of distribution of work, etc. Therefore, on
On the basis of objective relationships, relationships of a socio-psychological nature begin to take shape, characterized by a certain emotional mood,
the nature of communication between people and relationships in a labor organization, the atmosphere in it.
Thus, social and labor relations make it possible to determine social
significance, role, place, social position of the individual and group. They are
a link between a worker and a foreman, a manager and a group of subordinates,
certain groups of workers and their individual members. No group of workers
not a single member of a labor organization can exist outside of such relations, outside
mutual responsibilities relative to each other, outside of interactions.
As we see, in practice there is a variety of social and labor relations. Their,
as well as various social phenomena and processes in the existing market conditions and
studies the sociology of labor. Therefore, the sociology of work is the study of the functioning and
social aspects of the labor market. If we try to narrow this concept, then
we can say that the sociology of labor is the behavior of employers and employees in
response to economic and social incentives to work. Exactly this kind
incentives, on the one hand, encourage individual choice, and on the other, limit
his. In sociological theory, the emphasis is on incentives that regulate labor
behavior that is not impersonal in nature and relates to employees, broad
groups of people.
The subject of labor sociology is the structure and mechanism of social and labor
relations, as well as social processes and phenomena in the world of work.
The goal of labor sociology is the study of social processes and the development
aimed at creating optimal conditions for the functioning of society,
collective, group, individual in the world of work and achievement on this basis
the most complete implementation and optimal combination of their interests.
The tasks of labor sociology are:
Studying and optimizing the social structure of society, labor organization
(team);
Analysis of the labor market as a regulator of optimal and rational mobility
labor resources;
Finding ways to optimally realize the labor potential of modern
employee;
Optimal combination of moral and material incentives and improvement
attitudes towards labor in market conditions;
Strengthening social control and combating various kinds of deviations from
generally accepted moral principles and standards in the world of work;
Studying the causes and developing a system of measures for prevention and resolution
labor conflicts;
Creating a system of social guarantees that protect workers in society,
labor organization, etc.
In other words, the tasks of the sociology of labor come down to the development of methods and techniques
the use of social factors in the interests of solving the most important socio-economic problems of society and the individual, which include the creation of a system
social guarantees, maintaining and consolidating the social security of citizens with
the goal of accelerated social reorientation of the economy.
To collect and analyze information in the sociology of labor, they are widely used.
sociological methods, which are manifested in:
Achieved knowledge about the subject of research (understanding the essence of labor and
labor relations);
Process of fact-gathering methods;
The way to make a conclusion, i.e. formulate conclusions about cause and effect
connections between phenomena.
It should be noted that research conducted within the framework of the sociology of labor
provide the necessary and sufficiently reliable information for the formation
social policy, development of scientifically based programs for socio-economic
development of labor organizations (teams), to solve social problems and
contradictions that constantly accompany work activities and workers. So
Thus, the sociology of labor is called upon, on the one hand, to expand knowledge about the real
existing reality, on the other hand, to contribute to the establishment of new connections and
processes occurring in the world of work.
The sociological labor sciences exist within sociology as a whole, but
are not necessarily components of the sociology of work. They are sociological
are not only in methods, but also in the subject of research. Their common feature is the study
social aspects of social labor. Emergence of disciplines within the sociology of work
became possible due to the fact that this science analyzes social labor into macro- and
micro levels. The first concerns the institutional aspect of work, and the second concerns
motivational and behavioral.
Economic sociology is one of the new branches of knowledge. Her subject
– value orientations, needs, interests and behavior of large social
groups (demographic, professional qualifications, etc.) into macro- and
microlevels in market conditions. How do reductions and
employment of management staff, unskilled workers,
engineers, doctors, etc.? How does the assessment of reward (moral and
material) labor in certain social groups, in the spheres of individual
and collective labor, public, private and cooperative production? On
These and other questions are called upon and answered by economic sociology. Item
research in the sociology of labor precisely constitutes the range of its scientific problems in
intersection with other sociological disciplines.
Labor economics studies the mechanism of action of economic laws in the sphere of labor,
forms of their manifestation in the social organization of labor. Economics is interested in the process itself
value creation and. For her, labor costs are important at all stages of production.
cycle, while the sociology of labor examines the labor interactions of workers and
labor relations arising between them. For example, in labor incentives
Economics is interested in wages. In this case, the tariff system, wages and
fee, the relationship between them. Sociology of labor, giving due attention to the problem
material incentives, considers, first of all, the totality of incentives
to work, incentives such as the content of work, its organization and conditions, the degree
independence in work, the nature of relationships in the team, etc.
In the process of work, people enter into certain social relationships, interacting with each other. Social interactions in the sphere of work are a form of social connections realized in the exchange of activities and mutual action. The objective basis for interaction between people is the commonality or divergence of their interests, close or distant goals, and views. Intermediaries of interaction between people in the sphere of labor, its intermediate links are tools and objects of labor, material and spiritual benefits. The constant interaction of individuals or communities in the process of work in certain social conditions forms specific social relationships.
Social relations are relationships between members of social communities and these communities regarding their social status, image and way of life, and ultimately, regarding the conditions for the formation and development of personality and social communities. They manifest themselves in the position of individual groups of workers in the labor process, communication connections between them, i.e. in the mutual exchange of information to influence the behavior and performance of others, as well as to assess their own position, which influences the formation of interests and behavior of these groups.
These relations are inextricably linked with labor relations and are determined by them initially. For example, employees get accustomed to a labor organization, adapt due to objective needs, and thus enter into labor relations regardless of who will work next to them, who the manager is, or what style of activity they have. However, then each employee manifests himself in his own way in his relationships with each other, with the manager, in his attitude to work, to the order of distribution of work, etc. Consequently, on the basis of objective relationships, relationships of a socio-psychological nature begin to take shape, characterized by a certain emotional mood, the nature of people’s communication and relationships in a work organization, and the atmosphere in it.
Thus, social and labor relations make it possible to determine the social significance, role, place, and social position of the individual and group. They are the connecting link between the worker and the foreman, the leader and a group of subordinates, certain groups of workers and their individual members. Not a single group of workers, not a single member of a labor organization can exist outside of such relationships, outside of mutual responsibilities towards each other, outside of interactions.
As we see, in practice there is a variety of social and labor relations. The sociology of labor studies them, as well as various social phenomena and processes in the existing market conditions. Therefore, the sociology of labor is the study of the functioning and social aspects of the market in the world of work. If we try to narrow this concept, we can say that the sociology of labor is the behavior of employers and employees in response to economic and social incentives to work. It is this kind of incentives, on the one hand, that encourage individual choice, and on the other hand, they limit his. In sociological theory, the emphasis is on incentives that regulate labor behavior, which are not impersonal in nature and relate to workers and broad groups of people.
The subject of labor sociology is the structure and mechanism of social and labor relations, as well as social processes and phenomena in the sphere of labor.
The goal of the sociology of labor is the study of social processes and the development of recommendations for their regulation and management, forecasting and planning, aimed at creating optimal conditions for the functioning of society, a team, a group, an individual in the world of work and achieving on this basis the most complete implementation and optimal combination their interests.
The tasks of labor sociology are:
studying and optimizing the social structure of society, labor organization (team);
analysis of the labor market as a regulator of optimal and rational mobility of labor resources;
searching for ways to optimally realize the labor potential of a modern worker;
optimal combination of moral and material incentives and improving attitudes towards work in market conditions;
strengthening social control and combating various kinds of deviations from generally accepted moral principles and norms in the world of work;
studying the causes and developing a system of measures to prevent and resolve labor conflicts;
creating a system of social guarantees that protect workers in society, labor organizations, etc.
In other words, the tasks of the sociology of labor come down to developing methods and techniques for using social factors in the interests of solving the most important socio-economic problems of society and the individual, which include the creation of a system of social guarantees, maintaining and consolidating the social security of citizens in order to accelerate the social reorientation of the economy.
To collect and analyze information in the sociology of labor, sociological methods are widely used, which are manifested in:
achieved knowledge about the subject of research (understanding the essence of labor and relations in the sphere of labor);
process of fact-gathering methods;
way to make a conclusion, i.e. formulate conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena.
It should be noted that research conducted within the framework of the sociology of labor provides the necessary and sufficiently reliable information for the formation of social policy, the development of scientifically based programs for the socio-economic development of labor organizations (teams), for solving social problems and contradictions that constantly accompany labor activity and workers . Thus, the sociology of labor is called upon, on the one hand, to expand knowledge about the actually existing reality, and on the other hand, to contribute to the establishment of new connections and processes occurring in the sphere of labor.
The sociological labor sciences exist within sociology as a whole, but are not necessarily integral parts of the sociology of labor. They are sociological not only in their methods, but also in their subject matter. Their common feature is the study of the social aspects of social labor. The emergence of disciplines within the sociology of labor became possible due to the fact that this science analyzes social labor at the macro and micro levels. The first concerns the institutional aspect of work, and the second concerns the motivational and behavioral aspects.
Economic sociology is one of the young branches of knowledge. Its subject is value orientations, needs, interests and behavior of large social groups (demographic, professional, qualification, etc.) at the macro and micro levels in market conditions. How are the reductions and employment of management personnel, unskilled workers, engineers, doctors, etc. carried out? How does the assessment of remuneration (moral and material) of labor change in certain social groups, in the spheres of individual and collective labor, state, private and cooperative production? Economic sociology is called upon and answers these and other questions. The subject of research in the sociology of labor is precisely the range of its scientific problems in intersection with other sociological disciplines.
Labor economics studies the mechanism of action of economic laws in the sphere of labor, the forms of their manifestation in the social organization of labor. Economics is interested in the process of value creation itself. For it, labor costs are important at all stages of the production cycle, while the sociology of labor examines the labor interactions of workers and the labor relations that arise between them. For example, in stimulating labor, the economy is interested in wages. In this case, the tariff system, wages, and the relationship between them are studied. The sociology of labor, paying due attention to the problem of material incentives, considers, first of all, the totality of incentives to work, such incentives as the content of work, its organization and conditions, the degree of independence in work, the nature of relationships in the team, etc.
Section 4. Social and psychological aspects of work activity
Chapter 2. The social aspect of labor in public life.
Let us analyze the social aspect of work in the life of society as a whole and its impact on individuals.
The social aspect of labor lies in the fact that people, carrying out any activity, create some new product necessary for society, i.e. reproduce certain public goods. Human life in society, personal development is impossible without socialization. The influence of the socio-political structure of the country of residence affects the life of an individual, both in personal and social terms, and in labor terms. Famous Russian psychologist A.N. Leontyev (1903-1979) wrote the following: “It goes without saying that the activity of each individual person depends on his place in society, on the conditions befalling him, on how it develops in unique individual circumstances.” .
Of course, when we say the word “activity,” we mean by it not only human labor activity, but most often activity is associated directly with creative work, i.e. has a subject focus. Let us return again to Leontiev: “The main, or, as they sometimes say, constitutive, characteristic of activity is its objectivity. Actually, the very concept of activity already implicitly contains the concept of its subject (Gegenstand). The expression “objectless activity” is devoid of any meaning... the prehistory of human activity begins with the acquisition of objectivity by life processes.”
Describing the process of motivating people's work, we showed that human activity is primarily governed by needs, and only then by interests and other values. But needs drive activity if they are objective. A.N. Leontyev wrote that “the concept of activity is necessarily connected with the concept of motive” and further “The main components of individual human activities are the actions that carry them out.”
That is, if a physiological need, according to A. Maslow, for example, satisfying the feeling of hunger, i.e. the process of obtaining food is currently the main motive of a person, then for this he must perform certain actions that can be aimed both directly at satisfying the need (buy food, cook food) and at making a snare for hunting or fishing gear (in society with natural-economic relations), later transferred to other people for the purpose of extraction, part of which will fall to him. Thus, human activity is often a product of collective social labor. We have already discussed above that the labor process in society is a matter that has a moral background. Morality (or ethics) is one of the forms of social consciousness, a set of principles and norms of behavior characteristic of people of a given society. Compliance with moral standards is ensured by the power of social influence.
From this perspective, one cannot help but focus on the problems of work ethics. Ethics itself is the doctrine of morality, its origin and development, the rules and norms of people’s behavior, their responsibilities towards each other, towards society, etc. Work ethics is, accordingly, the doctrine of people’s attitude towards work. Work ethics has existed for a long time; it, like many other teachings, was generated by religious doctrines that formed the basis for the development of human civilization, including morality and culture.
In 2004, a very interesting book by V. Tarlinsky “Vocation – True? Imaginary? , which examines religious work ethic issues in different religions and countries in an accessible manner and in great detail. In particular, the author of the book writes: “There are no religions that would call on a person not to engage in labor activity, not to be active in business practice, since there are no religions that are devoid of common sense. There are only religions in which issues of labor activity are expressed less clearly, less clearly, more vaguely than in others.” Let us note one very interesting fact brought out by the author of the book. It lies in the fact that the main labor achievements, as well as scientific discoveries in the field of labor theory, which we mentioned in the first chapters, were made in those countries where the Protestant religion and, accordingly, the Protestant work ethic existed. These are countries such as Germany, Great Britain and partly the USA. The hard work of the Germans and the British is always and everywhere noted. Such famous scientists as W. Petty, A. Smith, who laid the foundations of the labor theory of value, Benjamin Franklin, a scientist and politician who fought for American independence, and Frederick Taylor - the “founding father” of management as a management science, the founder of sociological science Max Weber and the German scientist and politician Ludwig Erhard, who made post-war Germany a country with a socially oriented market economy, came from religious Protestant families.
The Protestant work ethic lies in the fact that hard work among peoples professing this religion, which is a variety of the Christian religion, is an innate phenomenon, based on a conscious love of work in all its manifestations, and not work under pressure. Whereas in other religious movements, in particular in Catholicism, as well as in Orthodoxy, which is the dominant religion in Russia, the attitude towards work is of a different nature. Orthodox monks often engaged in so-called “work,” i.e. transformed for themselves the Christian necessity of labor into labor service, which took the form of heavy physical work within the framework of a subsistence monastic economy. They had practically no time left for the spiritual life, which was actively lived by monks in Catholic monasteries of the same time. This religious work ethic led to social humiliation, personal poverty, a desire to detract from the beauty of the buildings being created, and indifference to the quality of the products produced. Then such ethics moved from religious to secular life. We are still reaping the fruits of this phenomenon. A large part of the population of the Russian Federation, especially in rural areas, fully applies the “X” theory of D. McGregor, based on the postulates that a person is lazy and must be forced to work under threat of punishment. Some forms of forced labor that we wrote about above, in particular the labor of prisoners, which are, in essence, punishment by work, cannot in any way contribute to the conscious development in people of hard work, responsibility and initiative in the work they perform. And without this it is impossible to talk about building a fair social state in our country.
Of course, each class and each historical period had its own morality, expressed in religious principles, reflecting the views of the “masters of life” on the social structure, proclaiming goals and objectives that should be achieved in a given society. However, in almost any civilized society that had state forms of government, labor stood very highly from a moral point of view. All representatives of the “exploiting” classes understood perfectly well that it was the labor of slaves, serfs, and peasants that allowed them to live as they were accustomed to, and created the basis for their well-being and social structure. Therefore, the epithets used with the word labor have always had a sublime character. “Holy work”, “noble work”, “military work”, “work is a matter of honor”. Of course, some representatives of the ruling classes despised representatives of the working strata of the population, but only because they were poorly and dirtyly dressed or they “smelled bad,” precisely because their work was hard.
The 17th-century French philosopher François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) wrote in his “Maxims”: “Physical labor helps to forget about moral suffering; That’s why poor people are happy people.”
At the same time, representatives of high society did not despise the labor process itself. Back in the 17th century, the Russian reformer Tsar Peter the Great, traveling around Europe, himself studied the craft of a ship carpenter in Holland and forced his entourage to learn the craftsmanship. And in the 18th century, when humanism dominated European society, liberal creations of encyclopedists were in fashion, Baroque and Rococo styles prevailed in architecture and art, representatives of the ruling classes tried to elevate and ennoble the concept of “work”, washing away the patina of heaviness and dirt from it. For example, King Louis XV (1710-1774) worked as a typesetter in a printing house, typing “Economic Tables”, according to the instructions of their author and at the same time his personal physician, the head of the school of physiocrats, Francois Quesnay. The grandson of the monarch, the last king of pre-revolutionary France, Louis XVI (1754-1793), loved to work on a lathe, making various trinkets and snuff boxes. His wife, Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), ordered the construction of a toy village in Versailles, which included a poultry yard, a cowshed and a fun had fun there, through the process of labor, for example, she milked the cow herself (what a paradox the “queen-milkmaid”) or looked after the birds. True, it should be noted that the cow was perfumed with various incense, her horns were gilded, and she was decorated with multi-colored ribbons and bells, but the fact itself remains obvious. The Queen was strongly influenced by the ideas of J.-J. Rousseau. She tried her best to learn to provide at least her family with agricultural products through her own labor: she looked after the cows, milked them and fed them from the royal table. However, for some reason the revolutionary people regarded her works as a subtle mockery of starving Paris.
In general, the French royal court was very fond of the idealized life of the common people. This was called "pastoral". The relationships between shepherdesses and shepherdesses, the love scenes that played out between them in the process of performing their labor functions - herding sheep and goats, are reflected in many tapestries and paintings of this romantic period of time. Performances based on the works of J.J. were staged at court. Rousseau and other liberal writers, and the queen herself, and her court ladies, as well as the princes of the blood, gladly dressed up as simple peasants and played scenes from their lives.
Of course, such a toy working life was terribly far from the hard, beggarly labor of the common people, exhausted under the burden of unbearable taxes and taxes, but, nevertheless, this confirms the fact that work has always been considered a moral matter in all layers of society. Moreover, the ruling classes also worked, performing functions of governing the state, fighting on the battlefield, or creating some kind of artistic value. After all, the palaces or monuments that we admire to this day were created, albeit by simple workers, but according to the plan and in accordance with the tastes of the owners. It is to Queen Marie Antoinette, executed in 1793, at the age of 37, accused of deliberately ruining the French treasury, that France, and the entire civilized world, owe the decoration and improvement of the Petit Trianon Palace, built in 1761 in the style of French classicism, as well as the construction of many other monuments, including landscape art, at Versailles, which we admire to this day. On her initiative, in 1779, the Mill Village was built in a pseudo-peasant style. With her, a dairy farm, a mill and a hut appeared from 1783 - 1786.
Besides this, there are also many beautiful paintings and sculptural portraits of the Queen herself, and these are also world heritage. To the credit of the fanatical French Jacobin revolutionaries, they preserved the cultural and historical heritage of France for posterity by destroying many aristocrats and other enemies of the revolution, including the royal family.
The historical and economic excursion we conducted at the beginning of this book also indicates that work has always been of an exalted nature and scientific thinkers, mainly philosophers or religious figures, called for creative work and love of work. This is evidenced by the saying of the Apostle Paul, “If you do not work, let him not eat.”
Another social aspect of work is hard work.
Hard work is “a character trait consisting in a person’s positive attitude towards the process of work. Diligence is manifested in activity, initiative, conscientiousness, passion and satisfaction with the work process. Psychologically, hard work presupposes an attitude towards work as the main meaning of life, the need and habit of working.”
Therefore, based on this definition, hard work is a personal property of a person, which can be expressed through the factors that make up the need for self-expression according to the substantive theories of motivation described in part two of this work. Therefore, if this is a character trait, then it is not characteristic of everyone. After all, there is “voluntary unemployment” in society, i.e. asocial elements who do not want to work do not want to work, and not because it is difficult for them. The author conducted a survey of two dozen different ragged, exhausted middle-aged people, called “homeless people,” begging for alms from passers-by, to find out whether they had tried to work, the answer, as a rule, was the following: “I tried... I didn’t like it.” And this is quite symptomatic, since the character of such people often includes a tendency towards vagrancy, begging or theft, in many cases transmitted genetically from their ancestors. And the percentage of such people in our society is quite large. We see them even in the center of Moscow, rummaging through garbage dumps, emitting an unhealthy smell within a radius of several meters. Therefore, the actions of the Soviet authorities, despite the fact that in principle they were a violation of individual rights, in deporting such people, called “parasites” 101 km from Moscow and, as a rule, forced to work in labor treatment centers, from the point of view from the point of view of maintaining public order, can be considered a positive phenomenon.
Let us return, however, to the term diligence or love of work. Here we can pose a rhetorical question: can a person consciously and voluntarily love his work? In the minds of the majority of society, love is something sublime, a high degree of emotional positive attitude towards an object, placing it at the center of the individual’s life needs. If you conduct a survey of randomly selected people on the street about what kind of love is there? Then, as a rule, we will receive the following answers: love for a beautiful woman, for a mother, for children, for art, and finally, love for the Motherland. Although the latter sounds very pretentious, nevertheless, all normal people love their homeland, i.e. the place where they were born.
But you can also hear the option “love of work.” However, doesn’t this answer mean that if a person loves work, then he is deprived of any other joys of life? Perhaps he is an orphan, or does not have a beloved woman or family. After all, even the most beautiful work, aimed at creating literary or artistic works, is still a difficult, tedious process of long-term work, the fruits of which cannot be enjoyed immediately. Let's analyze this phenomenon.
On the one hand, there really is love for work, this is self-expression, the realization of all one’s abilities and merits. And this is a character trait conditioned by the process of upbringing in the family and in society. If a person has been taught from early childhood that he has to work, “that without work you can’t catch a fish out of the pond,” then, as a rule, having achieved independence, he will continue to work, believing that in order to receive certain benefits, both on the material plane, and spiritual (position in society, respect of others) is easiest through work. Moreover, the more he loves his family, the more efforts he will make to acquire these benefits in order not only to provide for his family, but also to elevate it along with himself. And this is normal. At the same time, work itself may not be an object of love, but the urgent need to work, the habit of work developed over the years, transforms the results of work into internal rewards, bringing a person a feeling of satisfaction and motivating him to further increase the efficiency of his work.
On the other hand, in the absence of such upbringing in the family, an individual may turn into the asocial element described above if society in the form of a school or any other public institutions does not intervene in time, preferably in childhood or adolescence. Education through labor is one of the proven methods of pedagogy. A.S. Makarenko (1888-1939) in his work “Pedagogical Poem” described in detail and vividly how street children, i.e. teenagers who lost their parents as a result of the revolution and the Civil War, acquired all the bad habits and lived by theft and begging, dirty and ragged, studying and working in a special colony, were later able to become worthy members of society. Of course, this book, written in the era of socialism, is ideological in nature, but this does not diminish the merits of labor education methods.
Many domestic psychologists wrote in their articles about the need to use elements of labor education in working with socially maladjusted children. Such activities help to give purpose to the lives of mentally retarded children, discipline them, and allow them to acquire work skills that help them survive, not only through a disability pension, but also through possible work achievements.
There is another way to look at this problem. Love for work is sublimation, i.e. a mechanism for psychological protection of one’s consciousness, due to the absence of other objects of desire. This version also has a right to exist. If we look at the biographies of many great people, scientists, composers, artists who created invaluable scientific achievements or creations that are the heritage of mankind, we will notice that in their personal lives they were extremely unhappy, often precisely because of their genius, which put their work above their concerns about family, life, daily bread. Their wives left them, their children did not remember them, often they were remembered only by their students, who shared with them the hardships and fruits of joint labor. These people loved their work more than anything else in the world. It was their creation, their self-expression. But geniuses are rare. But how do other ordinary people behave? Sociological studies conducted by the author to study labor motivation at enterprises of various forms of ownership revealed that the majority of people who have reached retirement age, regardless of the level of education (higher or secondary), place of work (commercial bank or metro depot), are characterized by higher needs - respect and self-expression. Satisfying these needs is akin to love of work. The author believes that there are two factors at play here. The first is that these people have already raised their children, taken them on an independent path, thereby investing their love in them, of course the feeling of love for children has not decreased, but has taken on other forms, the sense of responsibility for children has decreased. Elderly families break up due to natural aging and death. There are many lonely widows and widowers left, and instead of living love for each other, there remains love in the heart, i.e. memory. But the one who remains must move on, live every day and do something. Otherwise, his life becomes meaningless. This is where labor, in any form, comes onto the scene. For more educated people inclined to creativity, it takes the form of creating memoirs or some other records and publications, for other people in the form of some simple work, for example, as a museum caretaker. There are people who have not stopped working at their workplace throughout their lives, and when the branches of the tree called life gradually fall away (family, relatives, etc.), work remains the only thing that is the trunk of life and makes a person live and fight , despite the overwhelming illnesses.
The second factor is that in the love of work, again depending on the person’s personality type, his psychological characteristics and business qualities, there may be an unhealthy, painful element, an obsessive attraction to work. It can occur in quite prosperous people, wonderful family men, as a rule, middle-aged people with certain official powers. This state of affairs is called “workaholism.” The word “workaholic” is more familiar to our ears. The second part of this word recalls another human disease - alcoholism. And although there is nothing funny about this disease, on the contrary, it is a tragedy, but with the light hand of satirists and humorists, it makes most people smile. Accordingly, the first term also makes me smile. However, “workaholic” is not “alcoholic.” That's much better. Although it is possible that someone who is called a workaholic needs some socio-psychological help.
A workaholic recognizes himself as such, and he speaks about it with regret. Often, modern, beautiful, confident women are workaholics. Workaholism manifests itself in the desire to do one’s job in the best possible way and force other people around him, usually his subordinates, to do it also in the best possible way, regardless of their moral and physical capabilities. Analyzing the substantive theories of work motivation above, we considered higher-order needs and, in particular, the need for power. This need often does not manifest itself in achieving personal power, i.e. increasing their status, namely the ability to influence other people to achieve their goals or the goals of the organization. Higher-order needs, as well as self-expression, begin to motivate people after satisfying all other groups of needs to a greater extent. This explains the fact that workaholics, as a rule, are wealthy people, not constrained by funds, and often work with exaggerated enthusiasm, even in positions that are not very highly paid, but provide sufficient power. It follows that the main motivator of workaholics is the need for power, which is not properly satisfied. The reason for workaholism is an overestimation of one’s role in the process of collective labor and the desire to evaluate the work of subordinates according to one’s own scale of values.
The most negative point in the phenomenon of workaholism is that a person, especially if he is a leader, does not find proper satisfaction in his needs, and most importantly creates a difficult socio-psychological climate for his subordinates and deprives them of internal rewards from the results of their work.
There are two ways to combat workaholism as a socio-psychological phenomenon.
The first way is waiting. As we have already noted, human needs are gradually satisfied and replaced by others. Likewise, the need for power can be satisfied over time and replaced by some other one, for example, the need for knowledge, or some external circumstances can force a person to descend to an earlier level of satisfaction of needs, for example material or security needs. In addition, with age, a person tends to revise his assessments of the surrounding reality. This usually happens once every five years.
See for example: Ivanova A.Ya., Mandrusova E.S. “On the issue of interdisciplinary interaction of specialists in working with children with social maladjustment.” Social and mental health of the child and family; protection, help, return to life. Materials of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference. M.: Publishing House "Grail", 1998, p.185.
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The fundamental difference between humans and animals is the ability for purposeful activity. Activity is a type of human activity aimed at understanding and transforming the surrounding world, including oneself and the conditions of one’s existence.
There are four types of activities: 1. Communication, 2. Play, 3. Study, 4. Work.
Labor (labor activity) of a person is characterized purpose, subject, content, means of labor, working conditions .
The purpose of labor activity is its product.
Subject of labor– material or intellectual objects or relationships with which this activity is associated.
Work motivation is a set of internal and external driving forces that encourage a person to engage in activities aimed at achieving certain goals.
Work motivation – one of the most important functions of people management. Motives are internal drivers. Means external to the employee, which to one degree or another encourage him to work, are called incentives .
Application process incentive systems and, accordingly, the emergence of motives that encourage a person to achieve personal or group (collective) goals, to solve certain problems, is stimulation.
In managing staff behavior, incentives should motivate (encourage) employees:
- for the constant development (increase) of personal and collective potential;
- to maximize the use of these potentials to achieve the goals of the organization;
- to comply with the rules of conduct in the organization, not only in the workplace, but throughout the entire territory during work and breaks at work, in communication with employees and managers;
- to participate in the development of management decisions that promote positive changes in economic and social development;
- on the formation and strengthening of corporate culture, including the culture of labor protection.
When using various incentives, the following principles must be observed:
- incentives are aligned with employee interests;
- incentives should be more attractive than in other organizations;
- incentives are combined into a well-managed system;
- incentives change in accordance with changes in social and labor relations.
Incentives are divided into material And intangible .
Material incentives act on the basis of developed and applied incentive systems: wages; social payments, benefits and services; distribution of income and profit of the organization. These incentives form the basis of work motivation.
Intangible incentives– these are favorable working conditions, good relationships in the team, participation of employees in decision-making, etc. As a result of incentives, employees develop a feeling of satisfaction, which encourages conscientious work and improved work results.
Non-material incentives include:
- increasing the attractiveness of work, filling the labor process with more complex, interesting functions;
- improving the working environment, reducing or eliminating its harmful effects on workers’ health;
- reducing the severity of labor, labor intensity;
- improvement of working conditions in the workplace, optimal alternation of work and rest, allowing workers to quickly restore their working capacity;
- establishing normal (good) relationships with other employees, managers, management;
- fostering everyone’s responsibility for relationships in the team;
- improving the management structure of the organization, ensuring coordinated, rhythmic work of all levels of production and management;
- organizing training and retraining of employees, improving their qualifications, which gives employees greater opportunities for personal improvement;
- ensuring workers' access to production management, organizing production activities on the principles of democracy.
Managing the internal motivation of employees to work safely and comply with occupational safety requirements through the skillful construction of a system of incentives, rewards and punishments occupies a critical place in the organization's occupational safety management system. Practice shows that organizing a competition for the best workplace in occupational safety and health and regularly holding Occupational Safety and Health Day are effective forms of preventing accidents at work.
The main types of causes of industrial injuries are:
- Organizational;
- Technical;
- Psychological (personal).
Due to the fact that psychological (personal) causes of industrial injuries occupy a significant share in the structure of the causes of accidents, there is a need to prevent and minimize them by increasing occupational safety culture and in general work culture .
Labor safety culture– a high level of development of the system for preserving the life and health of workers in the process of work. Occupational safety and health management in an organization is carried out by its head. The attitude of the organization's employees to labor protection depends on what policy in the field of labor protection he adheres to.
When developing an organization's policy in the field of occupational safety and health and, in accordance with it, an occupational safety management system, issues such as workers' trust in their management, the role of workers in making decisions regarding occupational safety, etc. should be taken into account. Management must constantly demonstrate that occupational safety is priority task of the organization.
Work culture– a comprehensive qualitative characteristic of the state of labor. Its components are: rational organization of labor, favorable working conditions, the use of advanced technologies, high professionalism of workers, partnerships between participants in joint work.
In general, work culture contributes to the achievement of the following goals:
- maintaining the health of workers;
- developing a sense of job satisfaction, good mood, interest and activity when doing work;
- growth of professional qualifications;
- professional and personal self-realization;
- mastering rational labor methods, new equipment and technology;
- increasing labor productivity.
The growth of work culture and its component labor safety culture is achieved through the efforts of the organization’s management to involve workers in the management of labor protection and the implementation of administrative and public control over the state of conditions and labor protection at the organization’s workplaces.
Social partnership between the employer and employees in the field of labor protection is manifested in the organization of the activities of authorized persons for labor protection of a trade union or labor collective and committee (commission) for labor protection.