"Connecting work and occupations to the key subjects of sociological inquiry - social and technological change, race, ethnicity, gender, social class, education, social networks, and modes of organization - An Introduction to the Sociology of Work and Occupations introduces students to highly relevant analyses of today's industrial and postindustrial society. Succinct yet comprehensive, this text provides useful analysis of a broad range of topics, covering the changes in the world of work from hunting and gathering to today's Information Age. Featuring a broad range of topics, this unique text provides crucial insight into how life and work are evolving in the 21st century." "This text is valuable for upper-level undergraduate courses such as Sociology of Work and related courses in departments of sociology, organizational behavior, economics, human resource management, and organizational studies."--Jacket.

Introduction -- Acknowledgments -- About the author -- 1. Work before industrialization -- The oldest and longest-lasting mode of life and work -- Gathering and hunting societies in the modern world -- The working lives of gatherer-hunters -- The agricultural revolution -- Agricultural labor and cultural change -- Artisan work -- Time and work -- Protestantism and the rise of capitalism -- 2. Industrialization and its consequences -- The Industrial Revolution -- Capitalism and market economies -- Wages and working conditions in the Industrial Revolution -- Women in the Industrial Revolution -- Industrialization and social protest -- Making management "scientific" -- The assembly line -- A postindustrial revolution? -- 3. Technology, globalization, and work -- Technology, work, and occupations -- Work and contemporary technologies -- Telework -- Technology and globalization -- Globalization, trade, and employment -- Immigration -- 4. The organization of work in preindustrial times -- Traditional societies and the organization of work -- The family as a basis of work organization -- Slavery -- Caste and occupation -- The guilds -- Apprenticeship -- An assessment of guild organization -- 5. Bureaucratic organization -- The rise of bureaucratic organization -- The elements of bureaucratic organization -- Where bureaucracy works and where it doesn't -- Bureaucratic organization, work, and the worker -- Alternatives to bureaucracy -- 6. Professions and professionalization -- The checklist approach to the professions -- The professional continuum -- Attaining professional status -- Professionalization as a means of control -- Professionals in organizations -- Today's challenges to the professions -- Resource control and professional autonomy : the case of medicine -- Diversity and professional status -- 7. Getting a job -- The economics of the job market -- Minimum-wage laws -- Jobs, human capital, and credentials -- Networks and their significance -- 8. Diversity in the workplace -- Race, ethnicity, and hiring practices -- Women in the workforce -- Discrimination, occupational segregation, and pay -- Getting ahead -- Legal remedies for discrimination and occupational segregation -- Comparable worth policies for the workplace. 9. Who gets what? -- The determination of wages and salaries : market economics once again -- The widening income gap -- Why has income inequality increased? -- Unionization and its decline -- Technological change and income inequality -- Computers and income inequality -- Globalization, employment, and income -- Immigration and income -- Occupational prestige -- 10. Life on the job : work and its rewards -- Employment and unemployment -- The personal consequences of unemployment -- Varieties of employment -- Work without pay -- The workplace as school -- Job training and employment opportunities -- Work and social interaction -- Social relationships and job performance -- The intrinsic satisfactions of work -- 11. Life on the job II : the perils and pressures of work -- Work may be hazardous to your health -- Stress at work -- Jobs, secure and insecure -- Temporary workers -- Sexual harassment at work -- Greedy institutions -- Alienated labor -- Responses to on-the-job alienation -- Managerial efforts to reduce on-the-job alienation -- Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction today -- 12. Workplace culture and socialization -- The significance of workplace cultures -- Socialization into a culture -- Socialization as an ongoing processes -- Socialization and identity -- Occupational and organizational heroes -- Socialization in different occupational realms -- Rites of passage -- Organizations and subcultures -- Supportive workplace subcultures -- Deviant subcultures -- Socialization, careers, and strain -- 13. Work roles and life roles -- The separation of work and residence -- Working hours -- Women at work -- Couples, families, and careers -- Reconciling work and roles and life roles -- 14. Conclusion : work today and tomorrow -- Technology, work, and occupations -- Making globalization and technological change more equitable -- Work and demographic change -- Ethnicity, gender, and work -- Women, work, and families -- Closing the income gap -- The health care morass -- The fate of the professions -- Organizations for the 21st century -- Workers and jobs for the future -- Credits -- Index.