Deck 13: Work Values and Work Orientations

Question 1

Canada's resource-extraction communities often attract large numbers of workers who come there to make a lot of money quickly. They don't have any strong feelings, either negative or positive, about their bosses, since all they are interested in is earning money and spending it, either immediately or some time later. Which of the following concepts would David Lockwood have used to identify such workers?

A) Privatized workers.
B) Proletarian workers.
C) Maximizing workers.
D) Deferential workers.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following aspects of Karl Marx's writings about capitalism did he share with Renaissance philosophies about what it means to be human?

A) His emphasis on class conflict as the source of major social change.
B) His description of the alienation experienced by workers in capitalist society.
C) His analysis of surplus labour and how it generates social inequality.
D) His belief that capitalism would eventually be transformed into socialism.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The Japanese economy began to change rapidly in the 1990s. Which of the following occurred during this time?

A) Large companies began to rely much more on immigrant workers.
B) The Chinese government began buying up big Japanese companies.
C) Large companies stopped offering lifetime jobs to their employees.
D) Unions became much more powerful.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following arguments is made by Jeremy Rifkin in his book The End of Work?

A) New technologies are creating many more jobs than they are destroying.
B) As more people acquire postsecondary education, fewer people will view their jobs negatively.
C) More knowledge-intensive jobs will be created as the service sector expands further.
D) New work values are needed to make working in the voluntary sector more attractive for people who can't find paid work.

Question 5

At a family gathering, your uncle, a lawyer, starts talking about how "crazy" life is becoming. The people he works with brag about their long hours, and burn themselves out trying to make more money to buy expensive cars and clothes. He says he can't believe they are "doing this to themselves," and that we need to think more about improving society and less about working hard to get rich. Which of the following authors would you suggest he read, since they make the same arguments?

A) Andre Gorz.
B) Madeline Bunting.
C) Jeremy Rifkin.
D) Jamie Swift.

Question 6

Which of the following would be a "latent function" of work, according to Marie Jahoda?

A) Enjoyable interactions with coworkers.
B) A pension that helps maintain a person's standard of living after retirement.
C) The need to get a good education in order to get a good job.
D) The profits a company owner obtains from the work of employees.

Question 7

In recent decades, some politicians have expressed concerns about a declining work ethic among the poorest members of society. Recent research typically leads to which of the following conclusions?

A) Poor immigrants are willing to work hard, but not poor native-born Canadians.
B) The urban poor, but not those in rural areas, seem to have a declining work ethic.
C) The real problem is that most poor people do not have adequate skills and training.
D) The main problem is not enough good jobs and inadequate government policies.

Question 8

Martin Luther, a 16th-century Protestant leader, used the concept of a "calling" to describe which of the following beliefs?

A) Industriousness and hard work in one's job, no matter how good or bad it is, is the way to fulfill God's will.
B) Some occupations (priest and farmer, for example) are better than others such as merchant, since they contribute directly to the good of society.
C) Men should work outside the home while women should do caring work in the home.
D) Social class differences in society are natural, and should be accepted.

Question 9

Recent research on the work commitment of Canadian youth leads to which of the following conclusions?

A) They are now comfortable with being unemployed, but they still do not want to receive social assistance.
B) Only a very small minority would feel OK about being unemployed or about receiving social assistance.
C) They are now comfortable with receiving social assistance, but not with being unemployed.
D) Young people in central and eastern Canada are comfortable with being unemployed, but their counterparts in western Canada are not.

Question 10

Which of the following is the central argument in the humanist perspective on work?

A) Work should be a fulfilling and liberating activity.
B) If people only did enough work to "pay the bills," they would have more time for other activities that would give them pleasure.
C) Workers should be treated humanely, not like slaves.
D) Work should be done by human beings, not by machines.

Question 11

Which of the following generalizations best reflects current research findings on work orientations of Canadian workers?

A) Canadian workers consider good pay and benefits to be much more important than interesting and challenging work.
B) Canadian workers consider work that allows them to make decisions to be much more important than job security.
C) Canadian workers are strongly motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
D) The shift to nonstandard work has led to an increase in extrinsic motivations.

Question 12

Which of the following conclusions best reflects recent Canadian research on the work orientations of adult women and men?

A) Women continue to be more focused on extrinsic work rewards, compared to men.
B) Men continue to be more focused on extrinsic work rewards, compared to women.
C) Gender differences in both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards have disappeared.
D) Gender differences in both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards exist only among recent immigrants.

Question 13

Which of the following would be evidence that clearly contradicts arguments about the impact of the "Confucian work ethic" on economic development?

A) Rapid economic growth in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea in the 1990s.
B) Capitalist economic development in Communist China.
C) Late industrialization in Canada, compared to western Europe and the United States.
D) Rapid economic growth in India and Brazil over the past decade.

Question 14

An historical examination of the meaning of work leads us to which of the following conclusions?

A) The ancient Greeks and Romans had a very positive view of work.
B) Early Hebrew and Christian religious values portrayed the need to work hard as punishment from God.
C) By the 13th century, Western religious philosophers were portraying the work done by merchants and business leaders as the most valued in society.
D) During the Protestant Reformation in Europe, work came once again to be seen as something to be avoided.

Question 15

Which of the following best defines the concept "underclass"?

A) The long-term unemployed who become dependent on social assistance.
B) Workers who have no interest in class conflict, so long as they get paid.
C) The disappearing middle class in Karl Marx's analysis of capitalist class relations.
D) Part-time and temporary workers whose job security is precarious.

Question 16

In the British TV series Downton Abbey, the servants working for the wealthy upper-class family are usually very loyal and generally seem to accept that the rigid class structure within which they live and work as the way things should be. In his analysis of class relations in Britain in the mid-20th century, David Lockwood would have used which of the following concepts to describe such servants?

A) Privatized workers.
B) Proletarian workers.
C) Deferential workers.
D) The privileged working class.

Question 17

In recent decades, employers have frequently expressed concerns about the inadequate skills young people bring to the labour market, and have recommended that schools spend more time teaching "employability skills." Based on recent research, which of the following do employers typically focus on when hiring young people for entry-level jobs?

A) Academic skills.
B) Personal management skills.
C) Teamwork skills.
D) Personality and perceived work ethic.

Question 18

Kelly works extremely hard because he feels that this is the right way to live. He saves as much money as he can, and is critical of his friends who spend their money on what he thinks are nonessential things. If he could travel back in time, in which of the following religious or cultural groups would he be most comfortable?

A) In ancient Greek culture.
B) In early Hebrew or Christian culture.
C) Among the Calvinists, an early Protestant religious group.
D) Among the Lutherans, another early Protestant religious group.

Question 19

In his book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, Douglas Coupland suggested that corporate and government downsizing, and the shift to nonstandard employment, had changed the work orientations of contemporary youth. Which of the following best describes young people as Coupland wrote about them?

A) They are much more entrepreneurial than their parents were.
B) Compared to their parents, they are moving more quickly from youth to adulthood.
C) They are much more willing to take risks, compared to their parents.
D) They are cynical and alienated, with limited career goals.

Question 20

Which of the following best defines the concept "work orientations"?

A) The meaning attached to work in a particular society.
B) The meaning attached to work by the dominant elites within a society.
C) The aspects of work that a particular individual does not enjoy.
D) The meaning attached to work by particular individuals within a society.

Question 21

Briefly discuss some of the manifest and latent functions of work. Make reference to research on unemployment which helps us understand the latent functions.

Question 22

Andre Gorz, Jeremy Rifkin, Jamie Swift, and Madeline Bunting all argue, in different ways, that new work values are needed in modern society. Choose two of these writers and compare and contrast their arguments. Which is most convincing, in your opinion? Why?

Question 23

Briefly outline the core argument in Max Weber's book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Question 24

In his analysis of the class structure of Britain in the 1950s, David Lockwood described three different types of workers. Identify and define these three types and note which were becoming more common, according to Lockwood.

Question 25

Labour markets and workplaces have changed dramatically over the past three or four decades. At the same time, we have seen significant shifts in age, gender, and ethnic characteristics of the labour force. Have work orientations also changed as a result? Why or why not? Explain the nature of any changes you believe have occurred, making reference to material from this or previous textbook chapters.

Question 26

Women continue to be responsible for much more caring work in our society, compared to men. Women also earn less than men, on average, typically work in different occupations, and more frequently hold nonstandard jobs. Does this mean that women also tend to have different work orientations? Explain your answer with reference to recent research.