Crap day had by me. Venting frustration post... BEWARE!!!
Don't you hate when things let you down? I had to sit in my flat all day and wait for a courier to come and pick up my broken laptop to be taken away to get fixed - and he didn't show up. I was up from 9am (unheard of from me!) and waited around all day. No sign of them. So at 4pm, i'd had enough. Decided to head to uni to do an essay i have to do for friday, since i won't get a chance to do it tomorrow cos i'm working all day.
Soon as i get to uni, i get a phone call. "Mr Cuthbert, we're here to collect your laptop. Are you in?". NO!! Come back tomorrow between 9am and 12pm i said in as nice a tone as i could muster. So that was that.
I sat down to do my essay. Rifled through it fairly well as i was well prepared for it. Finished it about 4 hours of typing later, and tried to close Microsoft Word. "Do you wish to save... yadayadayada?" Yes. Click yes. Yes. YES!! It wouldn't let me. I lost 3,000 words and 4 hours of work. I nearly broke my wrist from punching the wall.
I'm now in a 24-hour computer lab on campus trying to get it done. AGAIN!! So unbelievably fucked off. I felt physically sick with rage when i realised i'd lost it. The computer system in a university YOU'D THINK would be able to manage to store something that was saved a hundred times whilst it was being worked on (hitting Ctrl+S is second nature when i'm typing- for God's sake i do it on here!!). So ticked off it's unbelievable.
Yeah it can always be worse, i know. I've just had a bad day!
Paul that is terrible. It's too bad you can't just get in your bed and start over tomorrow because it just sounds like the fates are working against you.
Perhaps you can post bits of your essay on the board just in case it won't let you save. : )
I'm sure you'll remember more than you imagine as you start working on it.
And don't hurt your hands. You need them to make sweet music on your gee-tar.
Paul that is terrible. It's too bad you can't just get in your bed and start over tomorrow because it just sounds like the fates are working against you.
Perhaps you can post bits of your essay on the board just in case it won't let you save. : )
I'm sure you'll remember more than you imagine as you start working on it.
And don't hurt your hands. You need them to make sweet music on your gee-tar.
You're a genius :D
I don't trust uni computers any more, so everyone (unless you're interested in boring sociology crap) just ignore the following...
In what sense have service class identities been overtaken by a “culturalisation” of work?
In answering this question, I must first identify and explain what is meant by both the terms ‘service class’ and ‘culturalisation’. This is essential as it provides a groundwork from which to argue and explain both sides of the argument. Alan Warde, in Paul Du Gay and Michael Pryke’s book ‘Cultural Economy’ outlines the importance of drawing a distinction between the two points for argument by asking “To what extent is it useful, or indeed possible, to claim that contemporary economic relations are more or less “culturalized” than their historical predecessors?’, can only be posed on the basis of a clear definition of a relevant notion of the economic and the cultural. Any answer requires an ability to distinguish the economic and the cultural, whether as separate spheres or as different types of practice (leaving open the question of what other spheres or practices, if any, might also exist)” (Warde, A. quoted in Du Gay, P. et al (2002) p.185) Also in this essay I am going to be looking at and explaining the notions of modernity and post-modernity in relation to the argument about the changing nature or work identities in the world. It can loosely be said initially that service class identities can be tied to the arguments for modernity, and the apparent “culturalisation” of work can be tied to arguments for post-modernity, and thus the question is loosely asking whether arguments for post-modernism has overtaken arguments for modernity.
First of all, I’m going to deal with the notion of the ‘service class’. The service class is a relatively new idea in the field of class identity, and unlike the notions of the working class and the middle class, it does not necessarily instantly denote class status. Whilst the more traditional views of working class identity and middle class identity are tied to status and even wealth, the idea of a service class is not necessarily tied to either of these. In Robert Bocock’s book ‘Social and Cultural Forms of Modernity’ the theorist Harriet Bradley identifies and explains what exactly she believes the service class to be. Bradley states that “we may distinguish a ‘service class’ (a high-level salaried group of managers, administrators and professionals who approach the privileged lifestyle of the propertied class) from the ‘intermediate groupings’ (a mass of lower-paid service workers, especially clerical workers, many with manual working-class backgrounds and connections)” (Bradley, H. quoted in Bocock, R. (1992) pp.22-23). This shows that Bradley believes that the service class is almost like an ‘in-between’ sort of class; one that fits in somewhere in between the traditional middle classes and the traditional working classes. Essentially, this could be taken to mean that the service class is actually a combination of both middle class and working class. In other words, it could be argued that the service class and those who work within it are essentially involved in working class employment with a middle class identity. The service class in Britain makes up a large percentage of employment, with many people being involved in office work in clerical positions, and also in the likes of call centres and so on. Another major part of what the service class is all about is to do with how they consume. Large parts of service class consumption are to do with not what they consume, but how they consume it – and with service class identities come identities tied to commodities. Robert Bocock defines service class consumption by stating that “Literally ‘consumption’ means the use of commodities for the satisfaction of needs and desires. It includes not only the purchase and rise of a range of material goods, from cars to television sets, but the consumption of services, such as travel and of a variety of social experiences. Modern societies have developed the process of consumption into a major social activity which uses large amounts of time, money, energy, creativity and technological innovation to sustain it. Everyone now consumes in modern societies – the old and the poor, men and women, as well as the rich, the young and those in the middle, though levels of consumption between these social groups differ” (Bocock, R. (1992) p.120)
Secondly, I am going to explain the notion of a “culturalisation” of work, in order to demonstrate a full understanding of exactly what is being questioned here. “Culturalisation” is largely to do with the idea that traditional values attached to work have disappeared or subsided and have been replaced by new ideas of a working ‘culture’. In Paul Du Gay’s book ‘Production of Culture/Cultures of Production’ Graeme Salaman outlines what he believes to be a definition of a “culturalisation” of work. Salaman believes that “organizations seek to structure meanings internally, for their employees” (Salaman, G. quoted in Du Gay, P (1997) p.236). He goes on to state that “the economy and the economic are inherently cultural phenomena: not only are goods and services increasingly culturalized, but the processes of organization and production themselves are the subject of cultural change and reconstruction.” (Salaman, G. quoted in Du Gay, P (1997) p.236) Salaman then goes on to provide a more in-depth approach to the idea of “culturalisation” with the point that “It is not just products and artefacts that are ‘cultured’ but also economic activity. Work itself is ‘represented’ in distinctive ways such that its meaning can vary, and be experienced in different ways… Our understanding and knowledge of things, events, processes, relationships, is structured through meanings we share, which organize, define and locate our experience. Our heads are full of knowledge, ideas and images, not only about our society but also about our work – and these ideas images and values provide us with shared frameworks, assumptions and moralities which we use to define and make sense of our work and employment… These shared meanings (or culture) – which differentiate work from non-work, and which define the precise significance of work activities and relationships – vary over time, space and cultural context. They are variable and contingent. For example, the same activity – cooking a meal, digging the earth, cleaning a car, using a word processor – can have very different significance for the people involved, depending on the circumstances. Who are you doing the activity for: yourself, an employer, and your children? Have you chosen to do it? Are you in some sense forced to do it?” (Salaman, G. quoted in Du Gay, P. (1997) p.237) In this light, it seems that what Graeme Salaman is saying is that the “culturalisation” of work is much to do with the meanings attached to the world of work, and the world in general.
Much of where the arguments about a service class fall down is where in the social structure the service class actually lies. As a conceptualised social class, it should have a place in the social structure, yet it is hard to pin down exactly where it fits into the grand scheme of things. Whilst much of the employment in Britain is service sector employment, even still it is hard to know where the service class lies in terms of whether it is more towards working class identity or whether it is more towards middle class identity. However, there is of course the argument that the service class can fall into either category. As a matter of fact, the service class in the eyes of many people falls under both categories. It is somewhat an ‘in-between’ sort of class. Anthony Giddens presents a famous idea that the working world is becoming stretched, and this has caused the middle classes and the working classes to stretch further apart from each other. This widening of the social gap has caused social relationships to become embedded and has also led to a crisis of identity – people do not know where they fit into society. In previous eras it was clear-cut as to which social class a person is identified as. Nowadays however, there is more of a blurring of social classes, with the service class being a prime example of this blurring – no one is quite sure exactly where it fits in. But perhaps the widening gap between the middle class and the working class has provided a space for the service class to sit. The service class is bound up with the idea that it is working class employment but with middle class status – so it could be argued that the service class has filled this widening gap between the middle and working classes. In this light, it cannot be said that a “culturalisation” of work has overtaken service class identities. This argument can be countered by what Harriet Bradley argues in Robert Bocock’s book ‘Social and Cultural Modernity’. Bradley
In today’s world, we live in a Post-Fordist society. That is not to say that Post-Fordism can existentially be tied to Post-Modernism – but it does go some way to explaining the idea that “culturalisation” may have overtaken service class identities and replaced them with a sort of universal culture of work. With Post-Fordism, there are three main aspects: the first is a move towards a more flexible workforce; the second is the idea that work is not just limited to the workplace, and the third is that there has been a cultural turn in society in general. I am going to focus on the second point here – the notion that work is no longer strictly confined to the workplace. In the current day and age, advances in technology (and in the way the working world is perceived in general) have meant that people’s work doesn’t have to stop when they leave their place of work. This in turn leads to changes in the way people both perceive themselves and in the way people make sure they are perceived to others. There is pressure on employees to stay with this culture and be up to standards set by the universal cultures dictated to them by the society in which they work. This in turn leads to the rise in Cultural Intermediaries – or identities which are tied to commodities and the way people consume things. These changing identities mean that work is always in transition, and employees must identify with the changes in culture and trends or they’ll be out of a job. This point strongly suggests that service class identities have been overtaken by a “culturalisation” of work (1,794)as it is clear that employees no longer see themselves as belonging to particular social classes, but more belonging to working cultures in society. Briefly speaking, it can be argued that there are three main aspects to “enculturalisation” of work; the first are images and representations of youth; the second is the aestheticization of objects, and the third is the notion that New Labour has redefined “The Social”, which intensifies the importance of work. These points can be tied to the previous argument to back up the notion that a “culturalisation” of work has occurred and the notion of a service class has diminished with this “culturalisation”.
Another point to note is raised by Richard Sennett in his book ‘The Corrosion of Character’. Sennett believes that whilst a “culturalisation” of work has occurred, it has had an adverse effect on the way in which employees operate. The title of the book hints towards this, and Sennett also believes that “culturalisation” has created a crisis of ontological security. In other words, because of “culturalisation” people’s sense of being has been adversely affected by it. This is tied to the notion that people no longer see themselves as part of a class, but as part of a culture. Sennett is critical of the Post-Modern stance, and is thus critical of “culturalisation” – as it is bound up with notions of Post-Modernity. The idea that employees are part of a social class rather than a culture can be seen as the Modernist stance, as opposed to the Post-Modern “culturalised” stance. However, Sennett does not go so far as to deny that “culturalisation” of work has happened, and there is nothing to suggest that he believes otherwise. Thus, these points also go to suggest that service class identities have been overtaken by a “culturalisation” of work, as identities now swing towards employees seeing themselves as part of a culture and not as part of a social class, which was bound up with notions of modernity (2,125)
Sorry to hear that Paul - very upsetting indeed.
Another thing you could do is open an email account on Yahoo or whatever and type your essay on it.
I'm stuck in bed with a bronchitis : can't breathe properly, can't eat (i'm down to soups and yogurts that i eat with a straw) and the coughing makes me even weaker.
Last night my throat was "on fire" and i didn't sleep and last but not least i lost my voice.
Hopefully all the drugs i'm taking will help to recover.
Ops that is a bad day . Had one myself ,was waiting for someone to service my boiler and who came after cancelling twice and charged me full bat for blowing dust out of it instead of a service .... but losing work on the computer.....thats worse than having a tooth out!
This might sound awful but summed up servicing class, from what I have experienced are ignorant rude and often lacking natural emotion and manners. Call centre mentality I liken to hitlers army . They are wicked.! Is that harsh?
*edit* I also read somewhere.... If you have your Health, a Roof over your Head and a Hot Meal, you are better off than 70% of the worlds population!!!
Oh man...that sucks Paul! I feel so bad for you! I don't know how forgiving your Sociology professor is, but maybe you could explain to him/her the situation and they'd give you an extra day? I know it's a long shot, but worth a try.
