This anthology brings more than fifty years of scholarship of the culture and sociology of work into a compelling
introductory and analytical text. Sociologists have long sought to understand the universal activity of work from
the point of view of the worker. This book shows how common sociological themes such as socialization, social interaction,
the social construction of time, and deviance are experienced in work settings as diverse as the factory, the nightclub,
the restaurant, and the offices of high-tech professionals.
Featuring vivid ethnographies, the book is organized around the concept of culture: the recognition that people
doing things together organize social life in common and identifiable ways. As such, this collection can be used
as an innovative core reader or as an ideal supplement to standard texts that approach work from the demographic,
structural, or macro perspectives. An online teaching guide is available to all adopters.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Douglas Harper and Helene M. Lawson
Part I. Work as Social Interaction
Chapter 1. Teamwork in the Operating Room
Robert N. Wilson
Chapter 2. Manufacturing Motherhood: The Shadow Work of Nannies and Au Pairs
Cameron L. Macdonald
Part II. Socialization and Identity
Chapter 3. The Fate of Idealism in Medical School
Howard S. Becker and Blanche Geer
Chapter 4. Occupational Aesthetics: How Trade School Students Learn to Cook
Gary Alan Fine
Chapter 5. Incorporation and Mechanical Solidarity in an Underground Coal Mine
Charles Vaught and David L. Smith
Chapter 6. Dancing with Identity: Narrative Resistance Strategies of Male and Female Stripteasers
Carol Rambo Ronai and Rebecca Cross
Chapter 7. Careers
Everett C. Hughes
Chapter 8. Career Concerns and Mobility Motivations of Orchestra Musicians
Robert R. Faulkner
Part III. Experiencing Work
A. Work as Practical Accomplishment
Chapter 9. The Social Construction of Truth: Editing an Encyclopedia
Graham Tomlinson
Chapter 10. Baseball Magic
George Gmelch
Chapter 11: The Police on Skid-Row:A Study of Peace Keeping
Egon Bittner
B. The Social Construction of Emotions in Work
Chapter 12. The Slanted Smile Factory: Emotion Management in Tokyo Disneyland
Aviad E. Raz
Chapter 13. Learning Real Feelings: A Study of High Steel Ironworkers' Reactions to Fear and Danger
Jack Haas
C. Work and Time
Chapter 14. From Night to Day: Timing and the Management of Custodial Work
Jane C. Hood
Chapter 15. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work
Arlie Russell Hochschild
Part IV. Work Cultures and Social Structure
A. Cultures of Blue-collar Work
Chapter 16. "Banana Time": Job Satisfaction and Informal Interaction
Donald F. Roy
Chapter 17. Hanging Tongues: A Sociological Encounter with the Assembly Line
William E. Thompson
B. Cultures of the Professions, Semiprofessions, and Service Occupations
Chapter 18. Annoying Owners: Routine Interactions with Problematic Clients in a General Veterinary Practice
Clinton R. Sanders
Chapter 19. Occupational Claims to Professionalism: The Case of Paralegals
Kathryn J. Lively
Chapter 20. Working on Hair
Helene M. Lawson
Chapter 21. Women, Resistance and Care: An Ethnographic Study of Nursing Auxiliary Work
Geraldine Lee-Treweek
Part V: Deviance in Work
Chapter 22. Illicit Prescription Drug Use among Pharmacists: Evidence of a Paradox of Familiarity
Dean A. Dabney and Richard C. Hollinger
Chapter 23. Wheeling and Dealing: An Ethnography of an Upper-Level Drug Dealing and Smuggling Community
