Class 12 Sociology · Chapter 12 NotesChange and Development in Industrial Society

Early sociologists like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated industry with urbanisation, a detailed division of labour and the loss of face-to-face relationships found in rural areas. In factories, people often produce only a small part of a product, so they do not see the end result of their work. Marx called this alienation, where work is not enjoyed but done only to survive. Industrialisation can reduce some inequalities, such as caste distinctions on trains or in cyber cafes, but older discriminations may persist in new workplaces. Income inequality often grows even as social inequality reduces, and women frequently get paid less than men for similar work.

• Alienationthe feeling that work is forced and unenjoyable, and survival depends on whether technology needs human labour.
• Convergence thesisClark Kerr argued that industrialised societies share more features with each other than with their own past.

Indian industrialisation is similar to the western model in some ways but different in others. In developed countries, most people work in services and less than 10% in agriculture. In India in 2018–19, nearly 43% were employed in the primary sector, 17% in the secondary sector and 32% in the tertiary sector. Agriculture contributes much less to economic growth than its share of employment, so the sector employing the most people generates little income. Another difference is the small size of regular salaried employment: over 52% of workers are self-employed, about 24% are in regular salaried work and about 24% are casual labourers.

• Primary sectoragriculture and mining.
• Secondary sectormanufacturing, construction and utilities.
• Tertiary sectortrade, transport, financial services and similar activities.

The organised or formal sector consists of units employing ten or more people throughout the year, registered with the government so that employees get proper wages, pension and other benefits. In India, over 90% of work, whether in agriculture, industry or services, is in the unorganised or informal sector. This has three major social implications. First, very few people work in large firms where they meet people from other regions and backgrounds; most work in small-scale workplaces where personal relationships determine salary raises or job loss. Second, very few have secure jobs with benefits, and of those who do, two-thirds work for the government. Third, since few are members of unions, unorganised workers lack experience of collectively fighting for wages and safe conditions.

• Organised sectorten or more workers, registered with government, provides benefits.
• Unorganised sectorover 90% of Indian work, left largely to the employer or contractor.

Since the 1990s, the government has followed a policy of liberalisation. Private companies, especially foreign firms, are encouraged to invest in sectors earlier reserved for government, such as telecom, civil aviation and power. Licenses are no longer required to open industries, and foreign products are easily available. Many Indian companies have been bought by multinationals, while some Indian companies are becoming multinational themselves. The government is also selling its share in public sector companies, a process called disinvestment. Companies are reducing permanent employees and outsourcing work to smaller firms or homes. This keeps wages low and makes it harder for trade unions to organise. Liberalisation and privatisation worldwide appear to be associated with rising income inequality.

• Disinvestmentthe government selling its share in public sector companies.
• Outsourcinggiving work to smaller companies or homes, often across the globe.

Only a small percentage of people get jobs through advertisements or employment exchanges. Self-employed people like plumbers, electricians, carpenters, private tutors and freelance photographers rely on personal contacts and hope their work advertises itself. Mobile phones have made it easier for plumbers and others to reach a wider circle of customers. Factory recruitment has a different pattern. In the past, workers got jobs through contractors or jobbers, known as mistris in the Kanpur textile mills. They came from the same regions and communities as workers but had the owner's backing. Today the jobber's importance has declined, and management and unions play a role. Many factories employ badli workers who substitute for permanent workers on leave but lack the same status and security. The contractor system is most visible in casual labour at construction sites and brickyards, where loans are treated as advance wages and workers work without wages until the loan is repaid.

• Jobber or mistria worker with the owner's backing who recruited and supervised other workers.
• Badli workera substitute for a regular permanent worker on leave, without the same security.

The basic task of a manager is to control workers and get more work out of them. This can be done by extending working hours or by increasing production within a given time. Machinery helps increase production but also creates the danger that machines will replace workers. Both Marx and Mahatma Gandhi saw mechanisation as a danger to employment. In textile mills, workers described themselves as extensions of the machine. In Maruti Udyog Ltd., two cars rolled off the assembly line every minute, workers got only 45 minutes of rest in the entire day, and most were exhausted by age 40. The firm outsourced cleaning, security and parts manufacture, and used just-in-time supplies, which kept workers tense. In the IT sector, software professionals are middle class and well educated, but their work is also subject to Taylorist labour processes, with long hours and 'flexi-time' that in practice means working as long as necessary. Harry Braverman argued that machinery actually deskills workers.

• Taylorismbreaking work into simple repetitive tasks to increase control and output.
• Deskillingmachinery reducing the skill required of workers, as argued by Harry Braverman.

The government has passed laws to regulate working conditions. The Mines Act 1952, now included in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Condition Code, 2020, specifies maximum weekly hours, overtime pay and safety rules. These rules may be followed in big companies but not in smaller mines and quarries, where sub-contracting is widespread and contractors often do not maintain proper registers of workers. Underground miners face flooding, fire, roof collapse, gas emission and ventilation failures, and many develop breathing problems, tuberculosis and silicosis. Overground miners face hot sun, rain and injuries from blasting. Mining accidents in India are very high compared to other countries. In many industries workers are migrants, such as young single women in fish processing plants, who are seen as submissive workers. Migration often leads to loneliness and vulnerability, though for some young women it also brings independence and economic autonomy.

• Silicosisa lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust in mines.
• Migrant workerspeople who move to work, often leaving families behind.

Home-based work is an important part of the economy, including lace, zari, brocade, carpets, bidis and agarbattis. It is mainly done by women and children, who are paid on a piece-rate basis. In the bidi industry, villagers pluck tendu leaves, the government auctions them to factory owners, contractors supply tobacco and leaves to home-based workers who roll bidis, and the manufacturer roasts them, puts on a brand label and sells them through distributors and wholesalers. In response to harsh conditions, workers sometimes strike, meaning they do not go to work. In a lockout, management shuts the gate and prevents workers from coming. The Bombay Textile strike of 1982, led by Dr. Datta Samant, affected nearly a quarter of a million workers and lasted nearly two years. Workers wanted better wages and the right to form their own union. Nearly one lakh workers lost their jobs, and many returned to villages or moved to smaller towns for powerloom work.

• Strikeworkers refuse to work to press their demands.
• Lockoutmanagement shuts the gate and prevents workers from entering.
• Piece-ratepayment based on the number of pieces produced.