Harry Braveman
Toniann German
Assignment #3
Soc
In Harry Bravemans “The making of the working class” he discusses how the working class is divided because the workers are divided in their work. He expresses that just because a person works it does not make them apart of the working class. Braveman gives examples of the farmer and the contractor to explain that these people would not be seen as working class rather than the people who are hired to work under them. Although business owners, farmers or contractors may do similar work as their employees it is there level of authority that is separating them from the working class, because these people work for themselves they are not considered working class.
Braveman separates the working class by productive vs nonproductive workers, Braveman states that productive vs nonproductive does not mean manual labor vs non manual labor. rather productive workers produce something useful. He gives the example of clerks who do things that contribute to the production of a product although they may not necessary be in direct contact with the product. Unproductive workers on the other hand are described in Bravemans reading as the banks, insurance, investments, and real estate industries just to name a few. Unproductive labor is that which is unnecessary in the production of goods. Here I believe he is describing productive vs nonproductive as todays white collar worker’s vs blue collar workers. Another way to view productive vs unproductive is that which benefits society or government and that which does not bring profit or benefit society as a whole.
When looking at these terms I believe That Braveman is stating that although there are productive workers and unproductive workers both are seen as belonging to the working class because they are working under someone. I believe that people are moving into the direction of unproductive work because the productive work is starting to be taken over by the rise of technology.
