Evolution of Work and the Impact of Industrialization
The Concept of Work and Hannah Arendt's Analysis
Work is the action by which man seeks what he needs. However, Hannah Arendt conducted an analysis of the differences between this general work and specific labor by giving another meaning: it is the activity aimed at producing artificial and useful things that are more durable. Besides this, Arendt gave a characteristic: exercising violence on nature is a model that converts the human as a designer and worker into a recipient of payment.
The Industrial Revolution and Its Consequences
Radically, the Industrial Revolution transformed the concept of work. There were six major consequences: the creation of factories, the distribution of time, production in towns leading to urbanism, the rise of the capitalist bourgeois proprietor, the emergence of the proletariat, and the changing role of women.
Marxist Materialism and the Alienation of Labor
Karl Marx analyzed the change of its size and looked for keys to give a correct and humanizing answer. According to Marxist materialism, the worker loses his being at work. To sell their labor is considered a merchandise; thus, the worker loses their value as an active subject. Employees are given the fruits of their work, which is expropriated to thicken the owner's equity, leading to alienation. This split between workers and owners is transmitted to society in the form of opposite classes and revolution.
The Rise of the Welfare State and Consumerism
The society that emerged from the Industrial Revolution was divided into the haves and the dispossessed, entering a crisis in the first third of the twentieth century due to social revolutions. After World War II, a new democratic society was created where economic growth and education equalized. The Welfare State was established, focusing on full employment, education, and social security. It became necessary to become capitalists and consumers. Consumption is the engine of the economy, and the job is the means to access it and to produce a certain social status.
Modern Work Structure and Technological Automation
While this occurred, there was a process of mechanization and automation of production driven by new technologies. An emerging civilization now pervades all spheres of life. Some say that this is completely positive, while others do not. Now, the outdated sectoral structure of work is more complex. Living is to consume, not just working, and working is often seen as non-life time.
Key Definitions in Economic History
- Materialism: Preferentially a theory of history in which the material conditions of existence play a determinant role in historical, political, social, religious, and cultural phenomena.
- Proletariat: A social class whose members sell their labor power for wages.
- Alienation: A state where employees are expropriated from their work, which goes to swell the capital of the owner.
- Capitalism: An economic system in which private individuals and business firms carry out the production and exchange of goods and services through complex transactions involving prices and markets.
- Class Struggle: The existence of social conflicts as the result of a central or alleged conflict of interest and inherent antagonism between different social classes.