Introduction
Employment is very essential in life as it caters for a livelihood to mankind. Without employment, today, millions of people would be living below poverty levels. As individuals work at various fields of duty, they are able to earn money that is used to buy several items. Most commonly, people are often employed as laborers or in white color jobs. Previously, labor work was the order of the day although this notion has changed over the past years1.
In the early days, people got occupied with labor work such as construction work, shoemaking, working in agricultural farms among others. Before industrial revolution period, many people preferred working as laborers in various fields. Today however, the employment sector has taken a different dimension as people go after white color jobs instead. With introduction of education, individuals concentrate on profession s that would only land them in offices but not labor work. Unfortunately globalization has limited the opportunities of white color job s hence rendering them jobless2. It is for this reason why some people now consider the labor employment.
Although labor employment was not a preferred area, it has really improved compared to the period before revolution. An example is the shoe industry which has improved because of new machinery and several factories. According to Dawley in class in community, wrote of the tremendous changes in the life of the shoemaker ’S” as the shoemaking industry moved from a cottage industry to the factory system. In nice work if you can get it, Ross suggests that over the last 30 years there has been a similar change in the world of work for much of the world’s population. The objective of this paper therefore is to compare and contrast the changes that took place in “S”s life with the changes that Ross depicts in his book, and discuss what role, if any, you see for the labor movement in the coming decades.
History of Shoe Making
Historically, shoemaking was dominated by handicraft professionalism. In this case, shoemakers practically engaged themselves in producing very good shoes. The shoemakers. More frequently, the shoemakers used iron, plastic and wood to produce different types of shoes3.
From these three materials, shoemakers were able to make a wide range of shoes like sandals, clogs and boots. The beginning of shoe making was marked a strong need to cover people feet. This is because the feet got injured as individuals were walking without shoes. As such, the shoemakers used grass to produce the first kind of shoes. From grass, the next type of shoes was made of wood followed by plastics. Apparently, sandals were the most common shoes, which still exist in the present day4.
Early shoemakers did not have education qualifications though they were still able to produce very nice shoes. During those days, shoes were mainly worn by individuals from rich families. By 1840s, the shoe making industry was greatly transformed as new machineries were introduced. This contributed to unemployment because most shoes were made by machine but not shoemakers. Introduction of factories also lead to improvement of the shoe making industry5.
As years passed by, there were more inventions that continued to develop the shoe making industry. Unlike cottage industries, the factory system is more effective in terms of saving time and producing better shoes. Indeed, the shoe industry is an indication of how the world of work has really changed over the years. From a mere cottage industry, shoe making was upgraded to a much better level.
Comparison and Contrast
In his book, Dawley narrows down to the shoemakers who were from Lynn. Through his work, Dawley explores shoemaking in depth as he evaluates the effects that went along with it. He describes the people in Lynn as those who lived together and without class difference.
He also says that this changed after revelation when a big gap developed among rich and poor people. Unlike his sentiments, Ross believes that the early days were full negative activities which include corruption, mismanagement within industries and people with class difference6. Considerably, shoe making was the main labor system that was practiced by inhabitants of Lynn. Dawley discusses how the world of technology gave a tremendous change to shoemaking industry. Ross on the other hand addresses the world of work between the 20th century and 21st century. Unlike Dawley, Ross believes that the early days offered more job opportunities that in 21st century.
According to Ross, people in the 21st century are facing more challenges even with development of new technologies7. He further says that new changes like migrant labor and higher education has crop up though people are faced with many difficulties. Contrary to Ross, Dawley thinks that new changes such as technology have greatly improved the world of technology. Dawley states how new machinery has improved the shoe making industry.
To him, the transformation has brought positive effects not only to shoe making industry, but the world of working in general. While Ross believes that new changes have led to labor instability, Dawley on his side believes that new technology has positive effects on labor. In line with this, Dawley describes how people in Dawley have embraced self- consciousness as they aim at improving the local government. As Dawley concentrate entirely on Lynn, Ross on the other hand evaluates labor system in various countries such as America, European Union and United Kingdom 8.People in Lynn became more committed with their work after the introduction of technology.
Similarly, both Ross and Dawley believe that technology contributed to unemployment among several people. Both of them also believe that changes in the world of technology have effects on political, economical and sociological lives of citizens. Though they differ in some issues, the two authors believe that more changes are still bound to affect the world of work. In terms of labor work, Ross and Dawley are positive that more people will be rendered jobless as more technologies are invented.
Conclusion
Ideally, new changes have had adverse effects in the world of work and laboring to be specific. Considering the shoemaking industry, introduction of machinery has led to many improvements. This is reflected on Lynn where new factories and machineries led to better production of shoes. However the changes brought unemployment to some people who depended on labor work. Before industrial revolution, shoemakers were depending on their efforts to produce shoes. With introduction of the revolution, the level of labor work reduced as new machines were used.
Works Cited
Dawley Alan. Class and community: the industrial revolution in Lynn. US: Harvard College. 2000.
Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
Footnotes
- Dawley Alan. Class and community: the industrial revolution in Lynn. US: Harvard College. 2000.
- Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
- Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
- Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
- Dawley Alan. Class and community: the industrial revolution in Lynn. US: Harvard College. 2000.
- Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
- Ross Andrew. Nice work if you can get it: Life and labor in precarious times. NY: New York University. 2009.
- Dawley Alan. Class and community: the industrial revolution in Lynn. US: Harvard College. 2000.