å Monday, September 5th, 2016

Denisse Hines
Sociology of Work
Dr. Elizabeth Bullock
4 September 2016

What is Work?

I am working as an Assistant to the Associate Provost for Research at the City College main campus. I have been working at this job for a little over two years. Before this job, I worked for various companies doing office management.

All four of my grandparents lived in Dominican Republic. On my maternal side, my grandfather worked as a heavy equipment operator. He specifically he operated the asphalt roller during the times when highways and roads were being paved all over the country. He along with my grandmother who was a stay at home mom, would travel to different cities for months at a time while he worked at specific locations.

On my paternal side, my grandmother worked as an embroiderer for a men’s suit store. She embroidered men’s shirts, scarves, and jackets, Pocket Square etc. She did this most of her short adult life. My grandfather used to work as the social security ambulance driver. Both paternal grandparents passed away in their late 30’s from cancer.

My parents both work in education. My father started of his career as engineering in Dominican Republic. Our whole family migrated to the United States and he began to work as a mechanic to make ends meet. Later he finished his masters in Science and Mathematics and started working for the Board of Education as a Junior High School teacher. My mother was a stay at home mom for most of my childhood. As my siblings and I got older, she finished her degree and began working for the Board of Education as well. She works as a family worker in a Junior High School. They both found jobs with a steady paycheck and a bit more job security.

I think the work history of my parents specifically has instilled good work ethic in me. Unfortunately, this has also made me fearful of making career decisions that would make me happy rather than to seek financial independence perhaps as a business owner. This has affected me by making me a disciplined employee. I believe working and being compliant had been instilled into my parents from my grandparent in order to fulfill materialistic needs. I do think it is important to have steady income, but I do not agree with being tied down to whatever pays the bills if you do not feel any joy while working. My goals for my future is to find work that make me feel pleasant at the end of the workday that also fulfills my financial needs. I also hope to pass on good work ethic to my daughter without enforcing a strict view about working somewhere that may not make her happy.

Based on my understanding of Weber’s take on the ethic of work, I do think that we there are to very clear paths to work ethic in people. Based on some religions, people are disciplined workers with a typical capitalistic mentality where material things and power motivate their work ethic. Other religions have beliefs of a higher calling and that would be what motivates their work ethic.

Hi Class,

My name is Janeth and I migrated to this country at the age of 9 with my parents and younger brother from Colombia. As an immigrant who has always been surrounded by a very hard working family, I hold a great deal of respect and admiration for all those who have paved the way for us all. I received my first job at the age of 16, as one of m High School’s teacher recommended me to a colleague who was looking for students to work at her costume jewelry shop on the weekends. I recalled taking the Long Island Railroad with three other classmates to Amityville, long Island on Saturdays, for an entire school year. I enjoyed that experience very much. I feel for the most part, that I have been very fortunate in most of my jobs that I have held. I believe that this Sociology of Work class will give us a better understanding of what is currently happening in the work force. I Especially believe it will help us decipher what our current politicians are trying to persuade us to believe about the current work markets.

I was recently promoted to administrative manager of personnel and academic affairs to the division of Cardiology at Columbia Medical Center. I have been working for Columbia University for about 10 years and have been very fortunate to have wonderful working environments. As for the work history of my grandparents, both sets of grandparents worked in Farms. My fathers’ parents own their own land and my mother’s parents were field workers. Both sets of grand parents were both very hard working as they often told stories of how early they were up working. As for my parents my mom was a stay at home mom and my dad worked as a mechanic. When we moved to the states they both when to work in factories, my mom as a seamstress and my dad as a technician who repaired the sewing machines.

I believe that my grandparents and parents have always stressed the importance of giving your all in whatever we were doing. My parents didn’t get a chance to go on to college because they were busy making a living and supporting their family, but they have always stressed the importance of finishing what we have started, therefor I have always wanted to finish my degree as I had to stop going to school to raise my kids. I give my parents thanks for being my role models and for teaching the importance of working hard.

In reading Max Weber’s excerpt, the statement that stuck out to me was when he quotes a writer trying to show the difference of the attitudes between the protestant and the Catholic religions, towards the economic life:

” The Catholic is quieter, having less of the acquisitive impulse; he prefers a life of the greatest possible security, even with a smaller income, to a life of risk and excitement, even though it may bring the chance of gaining honor and riches. The proverb says jokingly, “Either eat well or sleep well”. In the present case the Protestant prefers to eat well, the Catholic to sleep undisturbed” (p 8).

This statement very clearly states how the Protestantism believes largely influenced people to work hard to be able to accumulate wealth and live well. As per Catholicism influence people to take care of themselves and live peaceful lives, without stressing and killing themselves working. My parents raised us with Catholics believes that have influenced my work ethics. I do work hard because it’s the right thing to do not because I will get rich. My parents worked hard to make sure we had a roof over our heads but they stressed the value of our family and providing a good foundation for their children.