The Sociology of Work in the Post War United States: A Theoretical Assessment

This article explores the post-World War II interest in the problem of work in the United States. Liberal triumphalist approaches of the immediate post-war era reduced work to an element of management as the greater conflict between labor and capital, they argued, was overcome. However, starting from the late 1960s, this theoretical resolution started to dissolve due to the simultaneous emergence of political, social and economic crises in American society. This had direct repercussions in the ways in which work is perceived and studied. Marxian works made a comeback and moved the concept of labor process to the center of theoretical endeavors to study work primarily thanks to the work of Harry Braverman. This interest later evolved into the study of a more comprehensive study of labor movement. The changing place of work especially among critical literature deserves closer and theoretical attention. It is also an excellent entry point to understand wide-ranging social, political and economic transformations shaped American society since the 1970s. This article is an attempt to decode the dynamics of late industrialism in the U.S. via providing a theoretical assessment of key debates on work.

İkinci Dünya Savaşı Sonrası ABD'de Çalışma Sosyolojisi: Teorik Bir Değerlendirme

Bu makale İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası ABD’de emek ve çalışma sorunsalı üzerine yoğunlaşan çalışmaların teorik bir değerlendirmesini yapmaktadır. Savaşın hemen ardından hâkim olan liberal muzaffercilik çalışma olgusunu yönetim biliminin bir öğesine indirgemiş ve bunu yaparken emek ile sermaye arasındaki büyük çelişkinin sona erdiği iddiasında bulunmuştu. Bu uzlaşı 1960’ların sonundan itibaren eşzamanlı olarak ortaya çıkan büyük çaplı sosyal, politik ve ekonomik krizle birlikte çöktü. Bu çöküşün çalışma ve emek sorunsalına bakışa doğrudan etkileri oldu. Marx’tan etkilenen çalışmalar tekrar ortaya çıktı ve Harry Braverman gibi öncü figürler aracılığıyla emek süreci kavramı tekrar akademik çalışmaların merkezine geldi. Bu ilgi daha sonraları emek sürecinden emek hareketlerine kaymıştır. Bu kayışın ve değişen çalışma ve emek süreci kavrayışlarının emek çalışmaları alanı açısından kuramsal analizi yapılması gerekmektedir. Bu tür bir kuramsal analiz ayrıca ABD’nin 1970’lerden bu yana geçirdiği geniş çaplı sosyal, siyasi ve ekonomik dönüşümleri anlamak için anahtar konumundadır. Bu makale ABD’deki geç sınai kültürün dinamiklerini çalışma sorunsalı üzerine temel tartışmaları analiz ederek deşifre etmeyi ve kuramsal bir perspektif sunmayı hedeflemektedir.

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