WORK ALIENATION AND ITS IMPACT ON POLITICAL LIFE: CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT COUNCIL 37 WORKERS.
Item
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Title
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WORK ALIENATION AND ITS IMPACT ON POLITICAL LIFE: CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT COUNCIL 37 WORKERS.
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Identifier
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AAI8119751
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identifier
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8119751
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Creator
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BAIM, JULIAN IRA.
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Contributor
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Dr. Kenneth Sherrill
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political Science, General
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Abstract
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This study examines the extent of work alienation among New York City municipal workers and the extent to which work alienation is related to political alienation and behavior.;After a brief discussion of worklife's place in contemporary American life, there is an historical discussion of the changing meaning and impact of work. From this historical survey and current empirical studies in political science and related fields, the theoretical link between work alienation and a cluster of attitudes associated with political alienation is made. This theoretical review not only highlights the significance of worklife but it also helps generate the specific hypotheses under examination in this study. We hypothesize that work alienation should be widespread and that the concept of work alienation is correlated with political attitudes related to political alienation.;Following this theoretical development, a critical review of previous studies on work alienation and its impact on political attitudes and behavior is presented. This review of relevant literature underlines the conflicting findings on the levels of work alienation and the contradictory nature of work alienation/political alienation studies. A primary conclusion is the need for further study in this area.;After a discussion of the methodology and survey instrument used in this research (Chapter 3), this study's findings are presented. An analysis of these municipal employees' work attitudes reveals a significant level of work alienation. A large number of DC 37 workers, throughout the occupational and educational spectrum, find their work to be unchallenging and lacking in diversity and basically uninteresting. Of equal importance, a majority of these workers clearly shift the focus of their life away from work to the leisure sphere. In order to place these results in a proper perspective, they are also frequently compared to previous findings.;Building upon these findings of extensive work alienation, the discussion turns to an analysis of the work alienation/political alienation connection. Contrary to the findings confirming the hypotheses about the level of work alienation, the relationship between work alienation and political alienation proves to be tenuous. Political attitude structures, such as efficacy, trust and cynicism and levels of political participation appear to develop quite independently of work attitudes. These unexpected findings lead to a re-examination of the theoretical link between alienation from work and alienation from politics. Various mitigating factors are offered to explain why work alienation may not be correlated with certain political attitudes.;At the same time that most of the work/political attitude hypotheses are rejected, there are still clear findings that the municipal workers' devaluation of work has important political implications. Among these ramifications are the declining importance of the occupational community and the weakening of shared beliefs among co-workers.;The final chapter relates these conclusions to the body of literature on work and political alienation. There are a number of suggestions about future research avenues and a serious questioning of political theories that revolve around the centrality of worklife. The study concludes with the recognition that the work/political attitude nexus must be further studied before confident conclusions about their interrelationship can be reached.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Political Science
