Soc 241 Week 1 Assignment

Term Paper Julia Woodhall SOC 241

Within sociology, there are a number of varying theories and theorists interested in explaining and understanding the structures and inequalities of work. This can be achieved through studying an individual’s work experience. Two years ago, I had an opportunity to work in Hong Kong as an internship in an advertising agency company called Draftfcb for 4 months. My occupation position was a personal assistant of the marketing department. My responsibilities in this position are to help coordinate advertising and working on contracts with the clients. Also, I helped scheduling and monitoring production and delivery of the products. Draftfcb is one of the largest global advertising
agency networks formed in 2006. The Draftfcb network spans 161 offices in 96 countries and employs approximately 9000 people. With its foundation based upon the equal principles of creativity and accountability, it is fully a integrated marketing communications agency for the digital age to operate against a single P&L without any silos. Based on my work experience, there were many employees affected by the structures and inequality of work in this corporation. In this paper, I am going to discuss some of the concepts or theories taught in this course and apply it to my previous work experience. In modern societies, workers tended to lose the artisanal connection with their tools that they had previously enjoyed. While I was working in this company, I thought that I could use my own knowledge to work on the assigned projects. However, I realized that the company would not allow their employees to work in their own way because this corporation wanted to take control every production process. The employees must follow the instructions that were given by the head of department or manager. Afterwards, I felt less interested in the projects that I had been assigned. The chance of being creative was now restricted by company rules. According to Karl Marx’s contribution theory, as merchants and capitalists gradually took control of the production process, workers became estranged and alienated. Marx sketched out a critical analysis of the impact that capitalist production had on the experience of work. “Since work was increasingly just a means to the end of survival; workers came to view their own labour activity as devoid of any intrinsic meaning” (Vallas, Finlay & Wharton, 2010). As a result, the employees might become alienated from their own specifically human abilities. This would explain the lack of interest and motivation of employees during their day-to-day activities at work. Work may just have become an automated process, following and doing whatever was requested of them from their superiors.
Even within the advanced societies, some theories have pointed out instances in which entirely new forms of alienation have begun to emerge in ways that resonate with Marx’s theory. Thus, they point out that many occupations serving the public or organization now formally oblige employees to perform as an emotional labor, which placing their facial expressions and emotional sensibilities under the control of the corporations that employ them. Moreover, the managers take control over the subordinate group. As I have described above, Draftcb has enveloped their employees in such an elaborate a system of rules and procedures as to place powerful constraints on the behavior of employees. According to Max Weber’s concepts, he identifies three different distinct types of legitimate domination, which I believe that Draftfcb is the type of bureaucratic domination. “Marx develops a rich characterization of the ideal type of bureaucratic organization with six key features: the specialization of functions; the codification of norms within written rules and regulations; the emergence of an elaborate hierarchy of authority; hiring on the basis of certified expertise; the establishment of a sharp separation between official duties and personal relationship; and decisions based on the rational calculation of the most efficient means to attain a given organization end” (Vallas, Finlay & Wharton, 2010). From Weber’s standpoint, bureaucracy operates much like an engine whose movement compel each of the employees to perform its expected function. Therefore, this concept would indicate that Draftfcb’s strict rules and restrictions system have slowly caused their employees to become unproductive or inefficient. In virtually all societies, sex has been an important basis of work organizations. Thus, to better understand the ways in which gender structures employment, I need to examine the kinds of work performed by the employees in this corporation. During my internship, I realized that men tend to work at the upper level of occupations in this corporation. For example, men employees usually will reassert their masculinity using several strategies designed to set them apart from and more superior to women employees. According to the concept of sex segregation, occupations and jobs are segregated by race. Both women and men work in jobs and occupations that are dominated by members of their own sex. “As a result of sex segregation, jobs and occupations slowly take on the characteristics of those who typically perform them. Many predominantly male jobs implicitly and explicitly require workers to display traditionally masculine behaviors, such as aggressiveness (Vallas, Finlay & Wharton, 2010). In general, we could understand that while women and minorities have made inroads into the ranks of managers, they have found it much more difficult to penetrate the top echelons of the corporation. “ Behind the metaphor of the glass ceiling is an assertion that as woman and minorities move up the corporate ladder, their chance of continuing to do so gradually decrease” (Vallas, Finlay & Wharton, 2010). Indeed, there are supposed to be more obstacles when trying to climb upward towards the managerial hierarchy when starting from the bottom. Employees are not only affect by the sex segregation but also affected by the racial and ethnic divisions in this corporation. Racial and ethnic inequality has existed many years, whether at a work place, on the streets or even in restaurants.
Employees at Draftfcb are mainly of white and Asian ethnicity and are from the USA, Australia, England and Hong Kong.
The white workers mostly hold the most prestigious and rewarding jobs in the company. However, in sharp contrast with the positions held by whites workers, the Chinese workers are significantly over-represented in manual jobs. “ Whites are more likely to find jobs through informal sponsorship networks that place little emphasis on formal credentials, while black applicants tend to be more strictly on the basis of their educational credentials and experience” (Vallas, Finlay & Wharton, 2010). The black applicants disadvantage is similar to the Chinese in my workplace, where the whites applicants usually have the advantage over the Chinese. This shows how the racial and ethnical inequality makes it hard for Chinese to attain higher level occupations and better paying jobs. For some, on the other hand, any job providing pay is better than no job and no way to provide for their family. This is why there are so many over-represented Chinese workers in the manual labor section. Hence, while all employees have a difficult time maintaining their dignity and engendering disrespect from managers or customers, such issues may be especially potent for workers from more disadvantaged social
groups. Overall, the employees seem to get along well with one another in this corporation, and indeed, the workplace is likely one of the most important site in which social interaction occurs across racial and ethnic lines.
From a historical perspective, one of the fascinating aspects of occupational sex segregation is the way in which many occupations have changed their sex label over time. Men and women are slowly gaining equality in the workplace. Women now occupy higher positions, and have similar pay to men. There is still a difference between men and women’s pay and occupations, however compared to the past; there has been a great improvement. Also, the social composition of corporations can affect patterns of interaction at work across racial and ethnic. Everybody will face different occupational structures and inequalities in workplace environments. In my opinion, I think my work experience went well because I have made a lot of new friends and got a very good feedback from the manager. In addition, I have learned many things about the workplace environment and how many factors can affect your level of occupation. Although I have just discussed that Draftfcb has many constraints and inequalities on their employees, there are still employees that I know who are enjoying and working really hard on their
occupations.

Reference:
Vallas, S., Finlay, W., Wharton, A. The Sociology of Work: Structures and Inequalities. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2010