Many of the great works of sociology were written at a time when industrialisation was new and machinery was assuming great importance. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated a number of social features with industry, such as urbanisation, the loss of face-to-face relationships that were found in rural areas where people worked on their own farms or for a landlord they knew, and their substitution by anonymous professional relationships in modern factories and workplaces. Industrialisation involve a detailed division of labour. People often do not see the end result of their work because they are producing only one small part of a product. The work is often repetitive and exhausting. Yet, even this is better than having no work at all, i.e., being unemployed. Marx called this situation alienation, when people do not enjoy work, and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive, and even that survival depends on whether the technology has room for any human labour.
The situation when workers do not enjoy work but sees it only as a survival strategy.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Alienation
Option (1) Flexible work — Incorrect. Flexible work describes how work is arranged: working hours, place or contract are not fixed, and the worker may work part-time or on contract. It says nothing about how the worker feels about the work.
Option (2) Alienation — Correct. In a detailed division of labour, people often do not see the end result of their work because they make only one small part of a product, and the work is repetitive and exhausting. Marx called this situation alienation: people do not enjoy work and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive.
Option (3) Anomie — Incorrect. Anomie is Emile Durkheim’s term for normlessness, a state in which the rules that guide people’s behaviour break down, as in a time of sudden social change. It is about the weakening of society’s norms, not about a worker who dislikes his work.
Option (4) Nepotism — Incorrect. Nepotism means favouring one’s own relatives, for example in giving jobs or promotions. It concerns how people get work, not how they feel while doing it.
Note: The concepts in Option (3), ‘Anomie’, and Option (4), ‘Nepotism’, are not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.1 Images of Industrial Society … Many of the great works of sociology were written at a time when industrialisation was new and machinery was assuming great importance. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated a number of social features with industry, such as urbanisation, the loss of face-to-face relationships that were found in rural areas where people worked on their own farms or for a landlord they knew, and their substitution by anonymous professional relationships in modern factories and workplaces. Industrialisation involves a detailed division of labour. People often do not see the end result of their work because they are producing only one small part of a product. The work is often repetitive and exhausting. Yet, even this is better than having no work at all, i.e., being unemployed. Marx called this situation alienation, when people do not enjoy work, and see it as something they have to do only in order to survive, and even that survival depends on whether the technology has room for any human labour.” |