I {1 H 1. 1 I ! I ' ‘1' H i w x l I, U I * l I ’l» I < HI; 1‘ “W I] «H -| _; lam w mun- ?NDUSTRML MAN: RELEVANCE 0F STAGE GF INDUSTRIALEZATION T0 WORKER’S ADAPTATEON TO THEIR WORK Thesis for the Degree of M. A. MICHIGAN STATE UNWERSITY MOHAMMAD M‘ SALEHI 1988 LIBRARY [\1'1’ " 3:121 State Lg. v‘ezsity THEE-3!. . I ‘(qus Er amomc av. " HOAB & SflNS' 800K BlNDERY INC. Llamm BINDERS I“! ABSTRACT INDUSTRIAL MAN: RELEVANCE OF STAGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION TO WORKER'S ADAPTATION TO THEIR WORK by Mohammad M. Salehi Inkeles argues that industrial man has a universal set of characteristics develOped and influenced by the nature of institutions which develop with industrialization. Others claim that culture affects the way workers will re5pond to industrialization. This paper tests some modified aSpects of Inkeles's prOposition. The data used are from interviews with 1188 auto workers in four countries (India, Argentina, Italy and the United States, gathered in a study directed by Professor William H. Form). Inkeles's prOposition is tested for one aSpect of the worker's experience with industrial institutions; namely, adaptation to their work and work en- vironment. Adaptation is categorized in two contexts of social and technological features of work and work environ- ment. This was done in the light of Dubin's finding, that American industrial workers experience different degrees of attachment to the social and non-social (technical) aSpects of their work and work place. The results of this research in general show different patterns of adaptation to technical Mohammad M. Salehi features of work for countries at different levels of indus- trialization but gross similarity in the social attachment to work environment (a support for Inkeles's proposition as well as Dubin's). Thus the worker's adaptation to technical features of work seems to be somewhat influenced by the stage of industrialization of the country (Form—Gale). INDUSTRIAL MAN: RELEVANCE OF STAGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION TO WORKER'S ADAPTATION TO THEIR WORK BY . \ \ J5 Mohammad M.{Salehi A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology 1968 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS During my five years of college training in the United States, I have been showered by kindness, friendship and encouragements by many of the faculty members, friends and other good peOple. I cannot mention all of them by name, but there are two outstanding scholars, Dr. Form of Michigan State University and Dr. Breen of Purdue University, that I would never be able to express sufficient appreciation for their kindness. Without the help of Dr. Breen, I would never have entered the graduate school of sociology. Dr. Form has been my advisor ever since I started graduate work. It must be difficult to advise a student whose undergraduate training was in Electrical Engineering, and lead him to finish his Master program and thesis in the standard time. Dr. Form Spent more time with me than I could have reasonably hOped for. He did this despite his full schedule of administrative and teaching duties. ii CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS I. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . Problem of Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . Basic Assumptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . Major Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I C METHODOLOGY 0 O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O C 0 Conceptual Scheme and Definition of Vari- ables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dependent Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . Index of Attachment to Social Environment. Independent and Control Variables. . . . . How to Test the Hypothesis . . . . . . . . III. FINDINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REFERENCES APPENDICES Index of Attachment to Social Environment of Work (IASE). . . . . . . . . . . . . Attachment to Technological Environment (IATE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adaptation Reflected'Through Occupational ASpiration (ASPR) . . . . . . . . . . . Attachment to Industrial Sector (ATTINDSECT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Involvement (ORGATT). . . . Work Attachment (WORKATT). . . . . . . . . Skill Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Page 11 11 12 13 14 14 16 LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1. 2. Percent of Workers Scoring High on Index of Attachment to Social Environment (IASE). . . . . 17 Percent of Workers Scoring High on the Attach- ment to Technological Environment of Work (IATE) 19 Percent of Workers Not ASpiring to Change Their Occupation (ASPR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Percent of Workers Scoring High in Attachment to Industrial Sector (ATTINDSECT) . . . . . . . . . 24 Percent of Workers Scoring High on Index of Organizational Involvement (ORGATT). . . . . . . 26 Percent of Workers Scoring High in Measurement of Work Attachment (WORKATT) . . . . . . . . . . 28 Values of Chi-square for Adaptation Questions versus Skill Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Percentage of Workers Scoring High in Answer to the Question, "How many good friends do you have in your work group?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Percentage of the Workers Scoring High in "Measurement of the degree of intimate human relationship." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 iv FIGURE 1. LIST OF FIGURES Page Expected curvilinear pattern of Workers' attachment to technological environment of work by level of industrialization. . . . . . . 10 Index of attachment to technological environ— ment by level of industrialization. . . . . . . 20 Workers' attachment to industrial sector by level of industrialization. . . . . . . . . . . 25 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX Page A. Codification of Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 B. Writings and Activities based on the Four C. Nation Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Tables of Chi-squares . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 vi CHAPTER I THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The attitude of the worker toward his work in industrial organizations has been an important concern during the last two centuries. The concepts of alienation, anomie, and intergra- tion so essential to research in industrial sociology, focuses primarily on the relationship of the worker to his work environ- ment (1). ESpecially the concept of alienation, which was first developed in the Marxian literature, focuses on the worker's relation to his work and working environment under the condition of rapid social change and industrialization. In the words of Blauner: Non-Marxists and even anti-Marxists have followed Marx in the view that factory technology, increasing divi- sion of labor, and capitalist property institutions brought about the estrangement of the industrial workers from their work (2). Blauner considers estrangement from work to be one of the major kinds of alienation in industrial organization. Under the condition of work estrangement, the worker loses his sense of attachment to work, ceases to regard it as a meaningful way of self-expression, does not identify with the occupation, and becomes uninvolved with the task he performs. Therefore, the work itself becomes a means to an end, rather than an end in itself (3). Dubin, contrary to the Marxist claim which considers work as essential for self-expression and as central to the workers life, argues that industrial man does not consider his work and work place as a "central life interest," and does not totally commit himself to his work. According to Dubin: Industrial man seems to perceive his life history as having its center outside of work for his intimate human relationships and for his feeling of enjoyment, happiness, and worth. On the other hand, his experi- ences with the technological aSpects of his life Space and for his participation in formal organization, he clearly recognizes the primacy of the work place. In short, he has a well-develOped sense of attachment to his work and work place without a corre5ponding sense of total .commitment’ to it. (4) . Dubin's argument is based upon his study of the indus- trial workers in contemporary American society. One could question whether his claim would hold for other countries at lower levels of industrialization since industrial work may not be fully diffused in their social systems. The other question that could be raised is how long Dubin's claim would hold in a fully industrialized society, e.g., in the United States. In other words, one could question whether Dubin's findings reflect one instance of the history of industriali- zation, or whether they would be valid for all industrial situations. The last part of this question is partially answered by Blauner's work, Alienation and Freedom (5). He asserts that in the next stage of industrialization, that of "automation," industrial conditions will facilitate a greater degree of integration of the workers with their work and work community. In his words: Continuous-process technology and more favorable economic conditions result in a social structure with a high degree of consensus between workers and manage- ment, and an integrated industrial community, in which the employees experience a sense of belonging and membership (6). Blauner's findings indicate that the degree of aliena- tion of the workers, which is a salient manifestation of the worker's detachment from work and the work environment, would decrease in the case of the workers in automated (continuous— process) industry. Comparing the data of the workers in handicraft, machine tending, and automated industries, Blauner found that "alienation has traveled a course that could be described as an inverted U-curve" (7). This suggests that in more advanced societies of the future, industrial man's adaptation to his work and his integration in the work com- munity will be different from what Dubin portrays. Sociological literature suggests that early stages of industrialization cause the greatest detachment of the worker from his work (8). Therefore, if the worker's adapta- tion were placed in a develOpmental perSpective, a pattern could be projected: at first, increasing detachment and alienation from work and work environment (Marx); later, attachment to technological and organizational context of work, but detachment from its social aSpects (Dubin); and still later, a more general adaptation to work and work en- vironment (Blauner). To study the typology of this variation, some research- ers propose that the patterns of the worker's adaptation to his work in different countries could be plotted against the country's level of industrialization. Gale proposed the hypothesis that, adaptation to industrial life is not a linear process, gradually increasing with the degree of industriali— zation in a society. Rather, it is curvilinear in the form of an inverted U (9). This seems to contradict the theory prOposed by Inkeles. He states: . . . within broad limits, the same situational pres- sure, the same frame of work for living, will be experienced as similar and will generate the same reSponse by people from different countries (10). Inkeles's theory implies that the industrial institu— tions and industrial modes of production determine the kind of attitudes, values, norms, and social behavior that workers will have. If, under similar institutional settings and similar modes of production, workers develop the same patterns of reSponses regardless of their cultural background, then one could predict that industrial man would have a universal set of characteristics. This is based upon the assumption that there is a similarity of institutions in different countries, e.g., in this study similarity in the organizational structure of auto industries. In addition, if Inkeles's theory is true, one could accept the following proposition: Men's environment, as expressed in the institutional patterns they adopt or have introduced to them, shapes their experiences, and through this their perceptions, attitudes and values, in standardized ways which are manifested from country to country, deSpite the counter- vailing randomizing influence of traditional cultural patterns (11). In his efforts to verify the above proposition, Inkeles has taken institutional patterns as "given" or independent variables, and the worker reSponse as a dependent variable. Problem of Inquiry Industrialization now appears to be a world-wide phenom— enon so that an increasingly larger proportion of workers are becoming industrialized. It is now possible for social scientists to test a developmental theory of industrial man. AS suggested, a portion of the contemporary research in this area is concerned with the problem of central life interests of the industrial worker. Dubin's study of industrial workers in the United States indicates that: Industrial man seems to perceive his life history as having its center outside of work for his intimate human relationships and for his feeling of enjoyment, happiness, and worth. On the other hand, for his ex- perience with the technological aSpects of his life Space and for his participation in formal organiza- tions, he clearly recognizes the primacy of the work place (12). But Dubin's theory has not been subjected to test in a developmental context. Testing his hypothesis for societies or different levels of industrialization and cultural back- ground is of basic importance for industrial sociology. If the worker's patterns of "adaptation" to work and work environment constitute a uniform reSponse to the indus— trial mode of production and its associated institutional forms, as in Inkeles's theory, one should expect similar re- sults in studies done in different societies; for example, similarity of social involvement in the work community. This would give universalistic status to the theory proposed by Dubin. If there are significant variations in the reSponseS of industrial workers in different societies, this would tend to refute Inkeles's theoretical system. This problem could be readily settled if one designed a study Specifically for this purpose. Unfortunately, the study undertaken here is based on data of auto-workers in only four countries (India, Argentina, Italy, and the United States), which were collected for a somewhat different pur- pose (15). So it is not possible to duplicate Dubin‘s work, step-by-step, in each of the four countries. However, an at- tempt will be made to study parallel kinds of problems. To probe the similarities and dissimilarities of this and Dubin's studies, a brief review of his research design would be helpful. Dubin structured his questionnaire upon the assumption that there is a "center of life interest" which is manifested through the "expressed preference for a given locale or situ- ation in carrying out an activity." Therefore, his questions were designed to determine the orientation of worker's prefer- ence for activities which have approximately equal likelihood of occurring on the job or work place, or at some definite point in the community outside of work. This is illustrated in the structure of the following question: When I am doing some work, a. I am usually most accurate working at home b. I seldom think about being accurate c. I am usually more accurate working at the plant. In general, Dubin studies workers as work-oriented or not work-oriented with reSpect to two features of the situ— ation. First, he probes the worker's social eXperience in the work environment, such as intimate relationships with members of the working group and other peOple at work. Second, he probes the non—social aSpects of the work; that is, the areas of eXperience with technological and organizational aSpects of work and the work place. In general, this paper studies similar things: (a) the workers degree of adaptation (involvement or attachment) to technological, organizational, and industrial features of his work and work environment; and (b) the worker's degree of social attachment to his fellow workers and his social life on the job. It does not study his social attachment outside of the work place, and therefore doesn't test Dubin's thesis completely. In summary, this study attempts to test the universal- ity of Dubin's claim that industrial man becomes attached to the organization and technological sector of his work, but does not deve10p strong social attachments and human relation- ships at his work place. At the same time, the study is de— signed to probe this question for workers in the same industry in countries at different levels of industrialization. These variations could be explained as curvilinear (Form and Gale's), evolutionary (Dubin's), or no variation (Inkeles'). Basic Assumptions 1. It is assumed that the auto—manufacturing factories are similar in the four countries. 2. It is assumed that the whole network of interaction, social participation, and activities outside of the factory are structured and defined by the country's level of indus- trialization. 5. It is assumed that all countries at the same level of industrialization are similar. Major Hypotheses 1. Social attachment to the work environment is the same for the auto workers of all countries, regardless of the level of industrialization of their country. Rationale: This is based upon the Inkeles's view that workers under Similar modes of production deve10p similar work experiences. In fact, this hypothesis constitutes a test of Inkeles's proposition. 2. Attachment to technological features of work: a - is not a linear process, gradually increasing with the degree of industrialization in a society. Rather, it is curvilinear (higher adaptation is ex- pected in countries more rapidly industrializing, i.e., Agrentina and Itsly, where mobility opportunities in industry are higher. It is lower in early and mature industrial societies) see Figure 1. b - varies with skill level (the higher the skill level the greater the degree of worker adaptation to his work, irreSpective of level of industrialization of the country). HIGH LOW Attachment to Techno- logical Environment Figure 1. 10 HIGH I J I I. India Argentina Italy U.S.A. Level of Industrialization Curvilinear projection between attachment to technological environment of work and level of industrialization. CHAPTER I I METHODOLOGY The methodological and theoretical framework underlying the study is based upon a view of the auto manufacturing factory as a system; the workers as an input to this system, and the worker's attitude toward his job, and his experience due to the social, technological, and organizational aSpects of his work environment as a system output. Late Data used are from interviews with 1188 automobile workers in four countries (India, Argentina, Italy, and the United States). An attempt was made to select departments which together represented the skill levels of entire factor- ies. Unskilled workers are represented primarily by assembly line departments, semi-skilled by workers Operating semi- automatic machines, and skilled workers by those in eXperi- mental and engineering departments (15). Conceptual Scheme and Definition of Variables "Adaptation" is a concept which refers to aSpects of the worker's attitude toward his work, working conditions, and institutional attachment. Four aSpects of adaptation in 11 12 this research are: adaptation to the organizational sector, adaptation to the industrial sector, adaptation as reflected by occupational aSpiration, and adaptation due to social attachment to work environment. Skill level is defined in terms of complexity of the task of the worker as skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled (14). Dependent Variables The Index of Attachment to Technological Environment includes the following four items: 1. Degree of adaptation, reflected through worker's "attachment to the industrial sector." This is measured by codification of the worker's answers to the following question: With the same hourly pay, would you prefer to work on a farm machine, office machine, or factory machine? (See question number 5 in Appendix A) Preference of factory machine over a farm machine or office machine is considered a reflection of industrial adaptation (15). 2. Degree of adaptation, reflected by the "future occupational orientation," is measured by the answer to the following question: Have you ever thought of having an occupation dif- ferent than your present one? (See question number 6 in Appendix A) Possible answers are: sometimes, often, and never. This would measure the degree of worker's attachment 15 to the present occupation (16). 5. To measure the degree of the worker's attach- ment to his occupation, the following question is asked: If without working, you were guaranteed an income equal to your preSent total wages, would you con— tinue to work at your present occupation? This means that you could not accept another paying job. (See question number 10 in Appendix A) 4. To measure the degree of worker's attachment to organizational aSpects of his work environment, the "Index of Union Involvement" is used. This index is the accumulation of the answers given to the questions (17): a. Do you attend union meetings? b. Do you know the names of local union officials? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (See Appendix A) Index of Attachment to Social Environment The Index of Attachment to Social Environment includes the following items: 1. The degree of the "intimacy" of the workers in the work group is measured by asking the question: If you had a very important and delicate personal problem (a serious disease, a touchy family prob- lem, a very large debt you could not meet, etc.), and you wanted to confide in someone, are there among your fellow workers, peOple in whom you could confide and be certain that they merited your trust and would keep your secret? (See ques— tion number 7 in Appendix A) 14 2. Degree of "social" attachment of the worker to his work group is measured by means of the follow- ing question: In general, how many good friends would you say you had among peOple in your work group? (See question number 8 in Appendix A) Independent and Control Variables 1. .The ”skill level" is considered an independent variable. Rationale: This is due to the fact that the higher skill level would require more precision with the work, more reSponsibility, more involvement with the job, less degree of managerial control, higher status, and better pay. Therefore, Skill level could influence the worker's attitude toward work (18). 2. Other important independent variables are age and seniority. This is eSpecially important for some older workers who may have lost hOpe for better jobs or better working conditions. They may have given up hOpe of finding meaning in their work or improvement in their working conditions. How to Test the Hypothesis The answer to every question used for measuring the degree of adaptation was scaled from low to high. Every question was tested separately. But to make a general test of the hypothesis, two indexes were used: 15 1. LIndex of Attachment to the Technological Environment of work. This is a cumulative index. (See Appendix A) 2. Index of Attachment to the Social Environment of Work. This is the summation of the scores measur- ing intimate human relationships at the work place. (See Appendix A) To test the Part B of the second hypothesis, chi-square tests are used. To test the comparative part of the first and second hypothesis, a simple comparison of the percentages was applied. In this case, five percent deviation was considered the maximum possible error. CHAPTER III FINDINGS Index of Attachment to Social Environment of Work (IASE) Data in Table 1 reveal that the workers in the four countries seem to have a similar and high social attachment to their work environment. The level of industrialization of the country does not substantially influence the workerfs adaptation to the social aSpects of his work place. The data diSplay a maximum variation of twelve percent within countries and maximum of nine between countries. The United States, Italy and Argentina fall within a five percent range, and only India is deviant, having the highest proportion of workers with high attachment to the social environment. Differences within skill levels are also small, and follow no uniform pattern. In India, skilled workers show lowest social attach- ment and in the United States unskilled workers have lowest social attachment. Probably only the latter is significant, for American unskilled workers represent the most hetero- geneous group, young local high school graduates, migrant Negroes, recent rural migrants, all of whom have low tenure. 16 17 Table 1. Percent of Workers Scoring High on Index of Attach- ment to Social Environment (IASE) (Semi— Country N Unskilled skilled Skilled Total Rank India 262 98 99 95 97 1 Argentina 275 88 84 91 88 4 Italy 506 92 95 94 95 2 U. S. A. 249 81 91 95 89 5 18 Attachment to Technological Environment (IATE) Level of the industrialization of the country causes some variation in the worker's adaptation to technological features of his work and work environment. The pattern, however, is difficult to explain (see Table 2, and Figure 2). India is highest, followed by Argentina and the United States, which have equal scores, and Italy which has the lowest pro- portion of highly adapted workers. When skill level is controlled, Italy and the United States have Skilled workers exhibiting higher adaptation scores than unskilled workers. Only the American workers' adaptation scores increase steadily with skill level. Although differences are small, semi-skilled workers in Argentina and India have lower proportions of highly adapted workers. These findings do not support the second hypothesis, which states that: "Attachment to technological features of work is not a linear process gradually increasing with the degree of industrialization in a society. Rather, it is curvilinear." Workers in the lesser developed countries of India and Argentina have higher adaptation scores than work— ers in Italy and the United States. Two explanations are possible: One may either question the theoretical basis of the hypothesis, or the validity of the empirical evidence. The latter requires a detailed examination of the basic ele- ments composing the Index of Attachment to Technological Environment, which will be done. 19 Table 2. Percent of Workers Scoring High on Attachment to Technological Environment of Work (IATE) (Country Unskilled Semi-Skilled Skilled Total India 96 95 96 95 .Argentina 84 80 79 81 Italy' 51 68 67 62 U. S. A. 66 75 87 77 Attachment to Technological Environment 20 HIGH ----- unskilled semi-skilled ..... skilled LOW , , pf , HIGH India Argentina Italy U.S.A. Level of Industrialization Figure 2. Index of attachment to technological environ- ment of work by level of industrialization. 21 The findings of Table 2 suggest that semi-skilled workers in rapidly industrializing countries (India and Argentina) may be slightly more subjected to alienating con- ditions than their fellow workers. Although differences between them and others are small, they are in the same direction. The differences may be due to the fact that industrial work is not fully diffused in their social system. It may well be that in earlier stages of industrialization, factory discipline is experienced more severely by the workers who operate automatic machines, where as in a more industrialized society, increased skill brings increased freedom from technological demand. This certainly seems to be the case for United States workers. Adaptation Reflected Through Occupational ASpiration (ASPR) The worker's aSpiration not to change his task, re- flecting his degree of attachment to the job, varies signifi- cantly with the level of industrialization, as well as the skill level. Data in Table 5 reveal that American workers most aSpire to change jobs, followed by the Italian, Argen— tinian, and Indian workers. The trend line for skilled workers is in the same direction indicating decreased satis- faction with increasing industrialization. The trend for the semi-Skilled and unskilled is less clear, but, in general. workers in the more deve10ped countries seem more desirous of having different jobs. With the exception of Argentina, 22 Table 5. Percent of Workers Not ASpiring to Change Their Occupation (ASPR) Country Unskilled Semi-Skilled Skilled Total India 55 58 69 59 Argentina 60 45 57 54 Italy 56 49 55 47 U. S. A. 20 51 55 55 25 the greater the Skill of the worker, the greater the desire not to change jobs. In the countries industrializing rapidly, such as Argentina is now doing, Gale argues that mobility opportunities are so great that skilled workers are always considering moving to a better paying job. In countries such as India, the higher degree of attachment to industrial work is probably due to the higher socio-economic advantages that auto industrial workers have over other workers (19). Attachment to Industrial Sector (ATTINDSECT) The workers' "ATTINDSECT" scores exhibit a linear function. Thus, Table 4 and Figure 5 show a lowering attach- ment for workers in countries at increasingly higher levels of industrialization. This trend holds for skill levels except for United States skilled workers, who scored higher than the Italian skilled workers. Organizational Attachment (ORGATT) The relation of organizational attachment of the workers to the level of industrialization exhibits a general uniform pattern, with Italy deviating with less attachment. Semi-skilled Argentinian workers have a slightly lower score than their fellow workers. For the Italian case, semi- Skilled workers Show a higher degree of union involvement. The difference between skill levels is so small in Argentina and Italy as to appear unimportant. Different dynamics ap- pear to occur for skill differences in India and the 24 Table 4. Percent of Workers Scoring High in Attachment to Industrial Sector (ATTINDSECT) Country Unskilled Semi—Skilled Skilled Total India 77 80 85 80 Argentina 75 68 75 55 Italy 44 49 56 49 [L S. A. 55 45 62 47 25 ————— unskilled semi—skilled ..... skilled U) D 1 ,0 F C. H ------ u '- 3 8 J o +:8 604 a sun 0) H E m ‘ \ \ 0-H ‘“ m H +Jp 3 LOL 1 l 1 - HIGH India Argentina Italy U.S.A. Level of Industrialization Figure 5. Workers' attachment to the industrial sector by level of industrialization. 26 Table 5. Percent of Workers Scoring High in the Index of Organizational Attachment (ORGATT) Country Unskilled Semi-Skilled Skilled Total India 84 72 87 80 Italy 82 78 82 80 Argentina 56 45 4O 41 U. S. A. 66 71 89 76 27 United States. It appears that with increasing industriali- zation, semi-skilled workers become more involved with union affairs. Perhaps, this movement is due to the increasing difficulty of semi-skilled workers to become occupationally mobile as the industrial system matures. Work Attachment (WORKATT) The measurement of work attachment was the response to the following question: If without working, you were guaranteed an income equal to your present total wages, would you con— tinue to work at your present occupation? This means that you could not accept another job for pay. This question is concerned with the importance of the job in providing integration for the person's life. The results reported in Table 6 reveal a U Curve or one opposite that predicted by Gale. Indian and United States workers Showed higher job attachment and Argentian and Italian workers showed lower attachment. There seemed to be no con- sistent difference in the results by skill level, except for India, where increasing skill was reflected in increasing job attachment, and for United States, a reverse pattern. Gale reports that, for Argentina, skilled workers were am- bitious to improve themselves in an eXpanding market and were, therefore, dissatisfied with their jobs (Table 6). Skill Level Part b of the second hypothesis proposed in this study is: Attachment to technological features of work varies with 28 Table 6. Percent of Workers Scoring High in Measure of Work Attachment "WORKATT" Country India Argentina Italy U. S. A. Unskilled 69 55 56 67 Semi-Skilled 87 54 45 57 Skilled 92 50 4O 49 Total 82 55 41 6O 29 skill level. Table 7 (see Appendix C) provides the chi- square and the level of significance of the adaptation ques- tions run for skill level. In general, the significance level of the chi-squares is very low for most of the cases. This could be due to the fact that questions were scored (Low = 1) and (High = 2). This low "degree of diSpersions" could cause a low measure of chi-square (20). With the ex- ception of the American case, for workers in other countries, there was no significant relationship between skill level and their attitudes toward work and work environment. Discussion The analysis of data primarily investigates the simi- larity or dissimilarity of the patterns of adaptation to work and work environment of the workers in different socio- cultural contexts. The patterns of social attachment and attachment to non-social features of work are analyzed separately. The results of the analysis indicate the worker's attachment to social environment of the work fits a different pattern than that of their attachment to non-social or tech- nical features of work and work environment. This reinforces Dubin's conclusions, put in a developmental context, that industrial workers have different degrees of attachment to social and non-social features of the work. In order to ex- amine in detail the nature of the worker's adaptation to work and work environment, the aSpects of adaptation reflected through occupational aSpiration, work environment, attachment 50 to industrial sector, and organizational.involvement.were studied separately. In general, skilled workers showed a higher degree of attachment to their occupations and the tasks they performed. This is in agreement with Orzack's findings of the "center of life interest" of the professional workers in the United States. Orzack argues that "work is more likely to be a center of life interests for professionals than it is for industrial workers" (21). Since the skilled workers in the data of the "four nations study" are those who work in eXperimental and engineering departments, they had a lower degree of alienation from their work. Obviously, the relative Opportunities which industrial work provides workers varies with the degree of industriali- zation of the country. For example, in India, work in an auto factory, at any level, represents a high income-prestige situation. This could be one of the reasons why Indian workers score the highest, among all four countries, in prac— tically every item of attachment to non-social features of their work environment. Italian workers, generally, scored lowest in these measurements. A possible explanation of this may be that the industrial system is most aggravating for workers just as it becomes wideSpread in the country. In general the analysis of our data show that social attach- ment of workers to their work environment is similar for all workers irreSpective of level of industrialization of their countries. This conformity is not found in the technological 51 attachment to work where curvilinear pattern exists. TThuS Dubin's hypothesis is somewhat confirmed in that_there appears to be some differentiation in social'and technological attach- ment to work, but his assumption that this is a function of mature industrialization is not supported. Yet there are some trends which vary with industriali- zation. ASpiration to hold other jobs increases with indus- trialization and with skill level and the attachment to the industrial sector decreases with industrialization. Attach- ment or involvement with union seems to be the same for all countries with the exception of Italy. Attachment to work as a value conforms to a curvilinear pattern, with the American and Indian workers diSplaying a stronger work ethics than Argentinian and Italian workers. The social dynamics underlying this is not clear. It may be that the least strong attachment to work is found in countries which are at the edge of mature industrialization. Conclusion Auto workers who work in similar institutional systems, but in different countries, reveal varying patterns of attach- ment to work and the work environment. The variation may be partially due to the level of industrialization of their countries. This SUpportS the Form-Gale hypothesis that the level of industrialization influences the worker's adaptation to his work. 52 Clearly, the hypothesis of both Dubin and Inkeles are overgeneralizations which need to be tested with more com- parative studies before they can be Specified for their applicability to various stages of industrialization. REFERENCES CITED The data of this study is part of the four nation study of industrial workers, collected by Dr. William H. Form. There is a series of papers, publications, and re- search designs based upon this ppol of data, which is reported in Appendix B. (1) (2) (5) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) See the articles in, Josephson, Eric and Mary (ed.) Man Alone. (Dell Publishing Co., In., first print, (1966), pp. 86—144. Blauner, Alienation and Freedom. (The University of Chicago Press, 1964), p. 2. Marx, Karl, "Alienated Labor," in Man Alone, pp, cit., p. 14. Dubin, Robert, "Central Life Interest of Industrial Workers," Social Problem, January, 1956. (I have under- lined a part of the quotation for purpose of emphasis.) Blauner, pp. cit. Ibid., p. 178. Ibid., p. 182. Kerr, Clark, and others, Industrialization and Indus- trial Man (Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 185-185. Gale, Richard P., "Industrial Man in Argentina and the United States: A Comparative Study of Automobile Workers,“ Ph. D. Dissertation in Sociology (Dept. of Sociology, Michigan State University, 1968), pp. 1-16. Inkeles, Alex, "Industrial Man: The Relation of Status to Experience, Perception, and Values,“ The American Journal of Sociology (Vol. LXVI, July), p. 1. Ibid., p. 2. 55 (12) (15) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) 54 Dubin, pp, cit., p. 140 For explanation of sampling procedures, see the disser— tations of Poolo Amassari, Steven Deutsch, Richard Gale, and Baldev Sharma; all Ph. D. dissertations, by Michigan State University. Form, William H., see Appendix B. Form, William H., "Occupational and Social Integration of Automobile Workers in Four Countries: A Comparative Study," International Journal of Comparative Sociology (forthcoming). Form, William H., ibid., see Appendix A. Form, William H. and Dansereau, H. K., "Union Member Orientation and Patterns of Social Integration," Industrial and Labor Relations Review (Oct., 1957), pp. 5-12.‘I See the articles in, Faunce, William A. (ed.), Reading in Industrial Sociology (Appleton—Century-Crafts, 1967), pp. 215-277. Sharma, Baldev R., "Technological and.Work Experience: A Study of the Indian Automobile Workers," Ph. D. Dis- sertation in Sociology (Dept. of Sociology, Michigan State University, 1967), pp. 51-69. Frenzblau, A. N., A Premier of Statistics for Non- Statisticians (Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1958), pp. 50-90. Orzack, Louis H., "Work as a 'Center of Life Interest' of Industrial Workers," Social Problems (Vol. 7, 1959), pp. 125-152. APPENDICES 55 APPENDIX A CODIFICATION OF DATA I. (Skill level) - Three categories of skill are coded as: noneskilled = 1 semi-skilled = 2 skilled = 5 II. (ATTINDSECT) - Attachment to Industrial Sector is measured by asking the following question: With the same hourly pay, would you prefer to work on the farm machine, office machine, or factory machine? Farm machine = 0 Office machine = 0 Factory machine = 1 **Preference for working on a farm machine was not asked in Premier because it seemed unrealistic given the state of technological development in Indian agriculture. The modified question used for Premier was: With the same net income, which of the following types of work would you prefer? --work in office (rural locus) = 0 --work in factory (rural locus) = --work in office (city locus) = 1 ——work in factory (city locus) = 1 0 When “rural" loci for factory and office are combined. III. (ASPR).- Adaptation reflected through Occupational ASpiration is measured by asking the following question: 56 57 Have you ever thought of learning an occupation different than your present one? Yes (often, sometimes) = O No = 1 IV. (SECRET) - Question number 7 measures the degree of intimate human relationship by asking: If you had a very important and delicate personal problem (an uncurable disease, a touchy family problem, a very large debt you could not meet, etc.) and you wanted to confide in someone, are there among your fellow workers, people in whom you could confide and be certain that they merited your trust and would keep your secret? No = 1 Yes = 2 V. (FRIEND) - Question number 8 asks: How many good friends do you have in your work grOUP? None = 1 Some friends = 2 VI. Index of Organizational Attachments is an accumulative index, measured by asking the following questions: a- Do you attend local union meetings? b- Do you know the name of the current local officiers? c— Would you tell me how interested you are in union problems? d- Over all judgment on unions (necessary, unnecessary)? e- Opinion about union in general (favorable, unfavor- able, don't know)? Three high scores out of five possible ones is consider- ed high. Low = 0 High = 1 VII. VIII. IX. 58 Adaptation due to Work Attachment is measured by asking the following question: If without working, you were guaranteed an income equal to your present total wages, would you con- tinue to work at your present occupation? This means you couldn't accept another job. No = 0 Yes = 1 (LATE) - Index of Attachment to Technological Environ- ment of the Work is a cumulative index constructed by summation of scores of "ATTINDSECT," "ASPR," "ORGATT," and “WORKATT.” This score ranges from O to 4. Less than 5 is considered low and more than or equal to 5 is considered high. Technology in this case is taken in a broad sense to include organizational patterns, too. Low = 0 High = 1 (IASE) - Index of Attachment to Social Environment is summation of the scores of the reSponses to the ques- tion ”Secret," and "FRIEND." The score ranges from 2 to 4. Less than 5 is scored low = 1 and more than or equal to 5 is scored high = 2. APPENDIX B WRITINGS AND ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE FOUR-NATION STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS Four doctoral dissertations and a master's thesis have been written by graduate research assistants in the Department of Sociology. They are: Paolo Ammassari, Worker Satisfaction and Occupational Life in Italy, 1964. This work is being translated and pub— lished in its entirety in Italian. In addition, two articles are planned from the Italian materials. Steven E. Deutsch, Skill Levely Social Involvements and Ideology: A Study of (American) Automobile Workers, 1964. Two articles have been submitted for publication. Richard P. Gale, Industrial Man in Argentina and the United States: A Comparative Study of AutomobilhWorkers, 1968. Baldev Sharma, Degree of Job Control ang_gatterns of Social_;ptegration Among Indian Automobile Workers, 1967. Frank Holland, Work Ecology and Social_;ntegration Among Automobile Workers, M. A. thesis, 1967. Other writings include: William H. Form, "A Bargaining Model of Social Research," 59 4O compares the field research strategy of four different studies of automobile workers. William H. Form, "A Cross-Cultural Exploration of a Crucial Concept: Skill Level." Presented at the seminar on the "Methodology of Comparative Cross-Cultural Research," in Bloomington, Indiana, 1966.‘ William H. Form, "The Sociology of Social Research," Rassegna di Socioloqia, October, 1965. William H. Form and Jon Shepard, "Community Backgrounds and Patterns of Social Integration Among Industrial Workers: A Comparative Study," in preparation. 41 .mocmoamwcmflm o: mmumowpcfl mz “mnouum EDEHXME mo SDHHHQMQOHQ OLD mwumowpca mammnucmumm mnu SH OSHm> HMOflHmEDC OQE "ODOZ MHOS mo monsummm.am0flmoH imo.caa.m Amo.cma.e imzvom.a Amzvam.m noncooa ou “phenomena no xmocH ma . . . . . . AmzfimHv ucchoufl>cm xuos Amo Baa m Amzvoo a Amzoem a Ace cos m one Oh ucmscomuu< Hmaoom mo xmch ea Amo.vma.m Aao.vae.aa Amzvoa.a Aeoo.vao.ea Asaexmosv. . .xuos 0» macaucoo ca . . . . . . Asseomov AmO VHH N. Amzvmm d Amzvmm H AmO me m. uCOEO>HO>CH HMSOHfiMNHGmmHO m . . . . . Aemmommv ozone mcu mo Amo one o Amzcom o Amzcma a Amzcao m anthems cue: oflcmcoaumHmm mumSaucH o . . . . . . Aozmmv msouo Amo can A Amzvaa m Aoa me m Amzvma o xnoz may on homecomuue Hmaoom e . . . . . . . Ammm mnu mo OEMZ coaummso Hm>mq HHflxm wsmum> mCOHumODO SOHDODQMUd How mumsvmlflso mo mmDHm> .5 magma deDOmIHEU m0 mmflmfie U NHQZMQQfi 42 Table 8. The Percentages of Workers Scoring High in Answer to the Question, "How many good friends do you have in your work group?“ Country India Argentina Italy United States Unskilled 65 69 56 48 Semi-Skilled 62 59 42 61 Skilled 67 79 50 74 Total 64 ' 67 42 6O 45 Table 9. The Percentages of the Workers Scoring High in "Measurement of the Degree of Intimate Human Relationhips"* Country India Argentina Italy United States Unskilled 88 66 88 68 Semi-skilled 94 65 88 68 Skilled 87 75 9O 87 Total 90 67 88 71 *See question IV (SECRET) in Appendix A. ‘°\7‘.>° \GQ MICHIGAN STATE UNIVER Ill! ”1,111 3 1293 3 ITY Ll Ilium 471 ARIES I