Revision summary
Labour commitment is stable attachment of time and skill to the workplace. Kerr’s industrialism thesis expected it to grow. Indian mill and Breman studies found circulation and rural-caste ties. Braverman and Burawoy stress control and manufactured consent. Employers may organise against full commitment.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
Labour commitment is the extent to which workers stably attach time, skill, and loyalty to an industrial workplace. Early industrial sociology asked why commitment failed in new factories. Later work asked whether management wanted full commitment at all.
Body
The concept
- Commitment includes showing up, learning the job, and accepting industrial time.
- It is social, not a natural work ethic. Max Weber’s calling is one cultural source; hunger and contract are others.
Manufacturing studies
- Clark Kerr and colleagues pictured a logic of industrialism that would produce committed labour.
- Indian mill studies, including those around Bombay and Jamshedpur, found rural links, caste recruitment, and circulating labour rather than a full break.
- Jan Breman’s work on south Gujarat showed footloose labour: management may prefer a non-committed, easily dismissed workforce.
- Harry Braverman: deskilling reduces the need for craft commitment and raises the need for control.
- Michael Burawoy distinguished making out on the shop floor: consent is produced, not assumed.
Discussion
- High commitment was a Fordist wish in some cores.
- Informalised manufacturing uses contractors precisely to limit commitment on the employer’s side.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD LC[Labour commitment] --> TIME[Stable industrial time] MILL[Manufacturing studies] --> MIX[Caste village contractors] MGT[Management] --> WANT[Sometimes wants non-commitment] MIX[MIX] --> LC[LC]
Conclusion
Labour commitment names stable attachment to industrial work. Manufacturing studies show it is produced by culture, wage, and control, and often avoided through circulation and contractors. Indian mills never fully matched the committed industrial-man thesis.
Quick related
Students also ask
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"The sociological imagination enables us to grasp SOCIOLOGY and biography and the relationship between the two in society." - C.W.Mills . Explain.
Next question on this syllabus topic (2018 · Q8(a)). View answer →
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Is absenteeism proof of low commitment?
It may reflect harvest, illness, or a second job. Read the labour regime first.
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Do unions raise commitment?
They can raise attachment by making the job worth keeping. They can also organise exit.
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