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Ten Prejudices About The Unskilled Factory Worker & His Family
Ten Prejudices About The Unskilled Factory Worker & His Family
In 'De ongeschoolde arbeider: Een sociologische analyse' (Hak & Prakke, 1970), the authors examine the everyday life of the unskilled worker. Their propositions are derived from observations and qualitative interviews (qualitative research). As a result, the book offers extensive contextual explanations for each assumption, yet these assumptions ultimately rest on a small group of interviewees (workers opinion and behavior). Below are the ten prejudices identified in the study concerning the unskilled factory worker and his family, the same worker whose annual household budget is discussed in this blog.
Group cohesion was central to the unskilled worker’s daily life: sharing jokes, talking about sports, going out together, meeting one another every day, and jointly teasing newcomers were all part of maintaining a strong sense of belonging.
An unskilled worker is able to endure a great deal: wages he believes are too low, the absence of promotion prospects, a work environment that often falls short, and recurring conflict with the boss.
The unskilled worker possesses no specialized professional knowledge, is easily replaced, and holds no prestige within the workplace hierarchy.
At the slightest downturn in the economy, the unskilled worker is the first to lose his job.
The position of the unskilled worker is shaped above all by the fact that he lacks any form of professional competence.
The worker and his family lived in so‑called working‑class or backstreet neighbourhoods, areas inhabited mainly by unskilled labourers and their families, effectively ghettos. Residents of these neighbourhoods were often labelled as 'socially maladjusted'.
The modern factory is the place where the worker learns to use, and to value, break rooms, shower and washroom facilities, and flush toilets.
The factory worker and his children do not withdraw from others in village life, and as a result, the atmosphere of the factory extends into the village. Factory life becomes the ideal model for the other villagers.
The unskilled worker stands outside the secondary culture of the bourgeois milieu, and his behavior is shaped by the primary norms of informal small labor groups, working‑class neighborhoods, and other institutions that play no meaningful role in bourgeois society but have become significant for him.
And finally, the factory worker is strongly shaped by mutual social influence. Girls tend to imitate one another more quickly and easily than boys and men, yet mutual imitation and peer influence are widespread across all groups.
Annual Budget Of A Worker
Annual Budget Of A Worker
A married, unskilled worker performing moderate work in a factory and living in a large city with two children, a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl, needed a minimum annual budget of 4,985 guilders to make ends meet in 1959 (Massizzo, 1961). If the worker's wife made certain items of clothing herself, the total budget could be reduced by 30 to 330 guilders per year, depending on how much was homemade. The household was usually maintained by the worker himself, keeping housing costs low, around 60 guilders. The remaining budget categories speak for themselves and are shown in the table and graphs of the household budget for a worker with a wife and two children (Massizzo, 1961). The story and the budget are from 1959; therefore, emancipation and diversity are not taken into account.
Source
Source
Hak, G.A. & Prakke, H.J. (1970) De ongeschoolde arbeider: Een sociologische analyse. Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp N.V.
Massizzo, A. I. V. (1961) Proeve van benadering van de redelijke gezinsuitgaven van de werkende ongeschoolde arbeider in de grote stad (Monografie No. 68). Centraal Planbureau.
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