Industrial sociology is a specialised area concerned with:
• how work is organised
• workplace conflicts
• management–employee relations and especially the role of trade unions
• divisions between work and leisure time
• links between work and the importance of social class
• different labour markets.
Studies in the 1950s and 1960s were mainly conducted within the factory
setting; hence the name industrial sociology. An example is a study which
will be mentioned in Chapter 3, ‘The Affluent Worker: Industrial attitudes
and behaviours’, carried out by Goldthorpe et al. (1968). Goldthorpe
investigated the ‘embourgeoisement’ thesis. This suggests that a rise in the
income levels of working-class employees results in their adopting middleclass
values. Therefore the class structure of society is seen to be affected
by the behaviour and actions of business organisations.
More recently, Grint (1995)1
uses a sociological approach for management.
In doing this he questions the accepted assumptions about what
management is or what managers do. He treats concepts such as
leadership, control and culture as social constructs. Thus, when society
changes, so does the meaning of these words.