This week in class, when we talked about Saint Monday and the time vs. task orientation, I was surprised to find how the Industrial Revolution changed the style of work. Obviously the introduction of machinery would change the type of labor people had to do, and it would obviously change the amount of time it took them to perform a certain task. But the change from focusing on completing a task to working for x amount of time was quite interesting.
Modern work is obviously time oriented, you work from 8-5 (or whatever other hour system you use) and then you're typically done. I was under the impression that this was how work had always been done. The old style of "task orientation" was a completely new thought to me. While the old system, where the shoemaker worked the last few days of the week in order to fulfill his orders does sound ideal, productivity definitely increased. Even without the introduction of machines, if people had started working on a time schedule and trying to maximize their output, a revolution of some sorts would have taken place. I don't know if I would call it an industrial revolution, but it sure would be a "production revolution," as people would now being working a full week (Saint Monday included), and instead of just trying to fulfill an order, they (the shoemakers at least) would be trying to make as many shoes as possible and distribute them.
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If you are interested, check out E.P. Thompson's "Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism". The article does a great job of describing the transition of time and the struggle between bosses and workers to control and redefine time.
ReplyDeleteI also like your idea about the "production revolution." I think what had to change was the nature of the market (producing for an anonymous consumer as opposed to filling local orders) since there is no point in making extra shoes that no one will buy.