Sociological Perspective on Work

Sociological Perspective on Work

            Sociologists tend to research social interactions, patterns, as well as events that lead to the development of theories. Through these theories, we tend to learn and understand things that happen around us in our everyday lives. In sociology, there exists a group of theories known as paradigms that tends to provide broader perspectives to help in the elaboration of many different aspects of social life. In this case, the paradigms consist of structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism, and they tend to dominate sociological thinking. These theories are formulated on the science pattern considering the nature and importance of social phenomena and its components, although there are some limitations on relying on these theories. In order to expound on theories, I will focus on a job I previously worked as a volunteer in a Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) supermarket.

Functionalism Theory

The theory views society as s structure with interrelated sections designed to meet both social and biological needs of persons in the society (Strauss, 2018). The theory was discovered by an English philosopher and biologist, Hebert Spence (1820–1903), who later published it in the form of writing. Based on the philosopher’s argument, it was discovered that there exists a similarity between the human body and society. Just like the various organs of the bodywork together to keep up with the functioning of the entire body, several parts of the society work together towards the continuous functioning of a society. From the look of things, Functionalism theory looks at the positive benefits of a job and economy. Without the economy, there could be no society as it derives goods and services from the marketplace.

Working as a volunteer in a fast-moving consumer goods company, we were paid a little periodically as a way to thank and appreciate our work for the time we worked at the organization. Personally, I utilized little income to cater for what I needed most: food, shelter, clothing, and little other basic needs essential in today’s society. Moreover, the job helped me to gain status by identifying myself with the organization, and it also gave me a sense of self confidence, self-fulfilment, and self-esteem.  Socializing with people within the workplace was also a way I benefited from being in the organization. Some of my co-workers turned out to be my friends, and we shared a lot of ideas, such as sports, political, and personal matters. We often invited one another to movies, dinners, and homes, therefore, building a broader network. Therefore, people do not necessarily work for material benefits, but they work for non-material benefits got from their job.

There are other functions such as manifest functions that are effects of a social process that are either anticipated or sought or intended that are beneficial. They included meeting sales targets and ensuring we acted as ambassadors for the company while latent functions are those unintended consequences such as absenteeism and employee turnover.

Conflict Theory

The theory was formulated by Karl Marx and considers society as a competition for scarce resources. The society is made up of two social classes, which are the one known as the ruling class who owns the means of production and the working class who works in the production sites. The ruling-class individuals will always do anything to get hold of resources such as oppression of the working-class individuals. They consider working-class persons as inferior because they do not own the means of production and do not have enough power to fight for themselves. These competing interests result from some individuals having different positions that bring inequality in workplaces.

In my workplace, the organization did not provide employees with medical covers despite working in a dangerous environment.  For instance, in the transport sector, insurance was not guaranteed for contract workers. Like the case in my organization, many workplaces today are seen as avenues for sexual advances, which could constitute sexual harassment, especially from between bosses and workers.  In most cases, workers are the sexually harassed, and in close to all occasion they allow themselves to be harassed without complaining in fear of being fired or because of the need for favors such as a promotion or even pay rise. This theory, to some extent, brings dissatisfaction in the workplace because workers feel alienated rather than obtaining benefits from the job addressed by functionalism theory.

Symbolism Interactionism Theory

George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) founded the theory Symbolism Interactionism although his work was never published. The theory seeks to explain the relationship of people within a society, and human beings tend to ascribe meaning to those things they interact with or the organization itself. Symbolic interactionism can help to understand why people choose to enter into specific careers or jobs and what they like or dislike about their position (Smith, 2017). Communication, which involves the exchange of meaningful ideas, is believed to be one way through which people interact and build relationships. Most research that utilizes the symbolic interactionist perspective involves in-depth interviews or participant observation research methods since they inquire to understand the symbolic worlds in which research subjects live.

Our encounters with customers sometimes were not very nice, especially when customers showed dissatisfaction with our commodities, but we could not underestimate the power of these angry customers. It was, however, essential for us to cover up our weaknesses so as not to appear incompetent in our work. Social construction examines a generally accepted understanding of the world that form bases for validating such concepts. An example is money, the market, and the environment we work on because they do exist, and there is a convention that they exist and have meaning.