Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 119 VOLUNTARY SERFDOM: AN IDEOLOGICAL JOURNEY INTO DUAL­ CLASS LABOR CONFLICTS, AND POSSIBLE WORKERS' SOLUTIONS

Ralph G. O'Sullivan, Chillicothe, IL ABSTRACT

This article identifies my paradigm shift toward greater acceptance of conflict and alienation sociologies from Marx and from Seeman. Having never been a follower of their sets of ideas, ample evidence has been found in recreational and sociological literatures, and at work, to support the contention that they are more important that I had previously thought. This conclusion is derived from reviewing a variety of novels, poems, a travelogue, sociological findings on dual- and antagonistic-class structures, data about alienation, and putting a theoretical twist to Merton's goals-means model of adaptation. Nothing like division of labor. view" (Harris 1968 572), which consisted of {Harriett Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's field observations and conversations with my Cabin, 1984) fellow workers. This method is in agreement with the ernie tradition in socio-cultural an­ INTRODUC"nON thropology wherein testimony is acquired I have hardly been a great fan of certain from a speaker who uses the voice of the "I" elements of conflict and alienation sociolo­ or the first-person singular. However, since gies because I never really felt deprived. the orator is often untrained in contextual When I was young my family owned a cart­ analysis the researcher puts the idiographic age company in Chicago and we lived in a accounts into nomethetic frames of reference historic suburban village. Drafted into the as the etic heritage of anthropology allows army, I had cozy duty in Texas when other (Geyer 2001; Harris 1968). troops went to Viet Nam. In college my ex­ The second method of investigation for penses were covered by veterans' assis­ this article was the use of autoethnography tance programs, graduate and research as­ or "reflective observation" (Forsyth & Palmer sistantships, and separate teaching con­ 1999), an "interior vantage poinr (Hummel tracts. Without ever having a tenurable job, I 1994), and "opportunistic research" (Reimer was published, sat on M.A. thesis commit­ 1977; Ronai-Rambo & Ellis 1989). This "com­ tees, was active in sociology associations, plete-member-researcher" method (Adler & and was an Associate Editor for a journal Adler 1987; Ronai-Rambo & Ellis 1989), the which encourages creative sociology. joining of the actor-orientation and the ob­ In spite of these modest successes I left server-orientation as the combined voices higher education due the uncertainty of con­ of the first- and the third-person singular, al­ tracts from one term to another, where pay­ lows us to view the world of the "I" and the checks were unevenly distributed, in pursuit "the ... " in a variety of ways. We can walk with of other opportunities. My current employ­ my good friend Dick Hummel when he en­ ment in a privately-owned and non-union fac­ gages in, and writes about, blood sports as tory, and reflection on my twenty-five-some­ "1, the hunter-scholar." We can sit in a night­ thing years as a scholastic outsider, have club and watch dancers hustle customers enticed me to rethink my favorite sociologies, as "1, the table dancer-sociologist" (Ronai­ forging a finer understanding of, and appre­ Rambo & Ellis 1989). We can sit in a room ciation for, the conflict and alienation per­ and listen as a sports writer attends weekly spectives in sociology as they are related to meetings with his dying former sociology the real presence of a dual-class and ten­ professor as "1, the reawakened-student" sion-based bourgeoisie-proletariat structure (Alborn 1997). We can eavesdrop on the cus­ with its separate outlook of "rank has its privi­ tomers of a restaurant in Chicago's Hyde leges." The dramatic changes in employment Park district as they tell each tall tales, friendly core values and treatment of workers serve lies, and solve the world's problems over as the basis for this ideological journey. coffee and food (Duneier 1992). Finally, we Besides the normal library research for a can ride with an outlaw motorcycle gang by project like this, there were two related meth­ reading about the experiences of "I, the biker­ ods of gathering information. The first of joumalisr (Thompson 1967). This analytic­ these was ethnography, "the native's point of experiential and inclusion method of data- 120 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology gathering is in accord with a famous invita­ categories - hence socially stratified. tion for the sociologist to tak~an unfamiliar The pieces of work used here do not rep­ look at a familiar world (Berger 1963) - one resent all possible identifications of social­ wherein the investigator is first a participant class systems; instead, they were chosen in society, who then becomes an invigorated because they offer examples of bipolar ar­ spectator whose own observations become rangements. The search for evidence was the objects of study. entertaining because I had to locate appro­ There are four facets to this study which priate passages in books I had already read, lead to its successful completion. There is a and then find additional confirmation in new need to identify how dual-class structures publications. The illustrations come from a have been presented in the mass and popu­ variety of sources including general and the­ lar media, for two reasons: First, it is through matic novels, poetry, a travelogue, a book such entertainment outlets that many of the about sports, and several movies and televi­ public's perceptions of social stratification sion shows as they collectively identify the are derived; and second, those mediated re­ universality and the diversity of two-dimen­ alities lend support to the arguments made sional class structures. So, just who are at the end of this article. Then, specific so­ these storytellers who have the audacity to ciological interpretations of class data are be sociologists sine qua non, and what are offered through the writings of scholars like the shows which have the gumption to teach Weber (1978) and Edwards (1979), with tar­ sociology outside the classroom? geted emphases placed on the contributions Some of the writers who were selected of Marx (1959) and Seeman (1959, 2001) for quotation include such noted Euro-Rus­ which identify various dimensions of work­ sian authors as Victor Hugo of Les Mise­ ers' economic alienation. These debilitating rabies; Fyodor Dostoyevsky who wrote Crime experiences are discussed in detail because and Punishment, Leo Tolstoy who composed factory workers are subjected to varieties of the short story ·Master and Man;" and the devaluation and social indifference by an controversial social conscience of Victorian owner-managerial social class. The data England, Rudyard Kipling, who mastermind­ about alienation are followed by identifying ed the poem 'The Ballad of East and West.• the means by which workers can adjust to a Reliance is also placed on Stowe's Uncle harsh environment, using the assorted meth­ Tom's Cabin, Theodore Roosevelt's exploits ods of adaptation offered by Merton (1968). from Through the Brazilian Wilderness, as The body of the article is concluded with well as Nordhoff and Hall's trilogy of books summary and cautious remarks about the about the mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty. presence and outcomes of the tensions be­ Unfortunately, only snippets from these vol­ tween the "haves" and the "have-nots. • The umes can be used because of space limita­ assembly of arguments begins by providing tions, but additional sociology can be found evidence from classical and contemporary in them. literatures, as well as visual media, which Four thematic novels are also reviewed, underline the contention that there are many and they include Stowe's book, again, Alan and varied forms of criteria for dual-class Paton's Cry the Beloved Country, as well as stratified systems. Alexander Waugh's Island in the Sun, all of which are woven around racial politics. Then, RECREATIONAL SOURCE EVIDENCE Leon Uris' Trinity is concerned with the poli­ All literature reviews are undertaken with tics of religion in strife-torn Ireland. Several the purpose of supporting the author's point stanzas from Dr. Seuss' "The Sneetches" are of view. With that in mind, let me remind the also important, as are the contents of sev­ reader that social classes are not just cate­ eral movies and old television series, but gorical differences in lifestyles led by asso­ first I begin with analyses from Hugo's novel. ciations of people. If that were the case then Les Miserables is a story with which I be­ the divisions would exist on a horizontal plane came familiar as a seventh-grade student. as simple nominal classifications. However, One of my teachers had an extra class pe­ when some sort of moral worth or social im­ riod with us, and during it he would tell us portance is assigned to the groupings they about the adventures and the flights of the are turned ninety degrees, a vertical angle to hounded Jean Valjean as he fled from the the original plane, now existing as ordinal dogged detective Javert. Later in life I decided Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 121 to read the book, and in my copy of it there is by the European aristocracy and preserved a wonderful line which depicts the dickensian for them by law ... Poachers continually chal­ lifestyle of the underprivileged poor who were lenged this domination by taking game when­ under the heavy-handed control of those peo­ ever and wherever it offered itself. Laws ple who had social influence and who held provided draconian penalties for violators legal power. who had the misfortune to be apprehended. (Hummel1994134) As there is always more misery at the bot­ tom than there is humanity at the top ... (Hugo Privileges and rights go to those who own 1987 8) them. Tolstoy, the other enlightening and in­ According to French law at the time of the formed Russian author, wrote the poignant story, ex-convicts could still be relentlessly short story ·Master and Man" (1977), and the pursued by the police, under the assump­ title could stand by itself as evidence of dichot­ tion that they were always criminals. Valjean's omous statuses. The tale involves a relation­ continuing, though well-meant, activities auto­ ship between an astute and miserly busi­ matically made him a permanent member nessman, Vasilii Andreich Bekhunov, and his of a criminal underclass of people - the prose­ employee-servant/serf Nikita. cuted and persecuted poor. The Russian crime story Crime and Pun­ Vasilli Andrelch did not pay Nikita the eighty ishment (Dostoyevsky 1950) also identifies rubles a workman such as he was worth, the presence of two social classes, using a but only about forty, which he paid without related variable to separate them - purely le­ any proper reckoning, a bit at a time, and gal power, compared to the legal-poverty fac­ then for the most part not in money but in tor used by Hugo. Dostoyevsky's Dounia talks goods charged from his store at a high price. about her Raskolnikov's vision of social real­ (Tolstoy 1977 70) ity in the following passage. Although Nikita owed his heart and his I am not blaming him, please don't think that; soul to the company store, he dedicated him­ besides, it's not my business. A speciallitUe self to his master with obedient and fatal loy­ theory came in, too - a theory of a sort - alty. That which Tolstoy has succeS$fully done dividing mankind, you see, into material and for us, beyond describing a feudal economy, superior persons, that is persons to whom is to show the callous disregard for, and the the law does not apply owing to their supe­ vulgar exploitation of, one social class to­ riority, and who make laws for the rest of ward another - the •bread and butter; the mankind, the material, that is. (Dostoyevsky idee fixe of conflict and alienation sociolo­ 1950 476) gies. The first U.S. novelist in this work is Stowe The unequal distribution of legal power via her book Uncle Tom's Cabin (1984). endorsed by both Hugo and Dostoyevsky is Stowe's character St. Clare, a member of New directly reflected in modern sociology through Or1eans' gentry, is talking to his northern cou­ some writings of Becker (1963) who identi­ sin Ophelia about local customs when the fies the rule creators of society as legisla­ following distinctions are made. tors, and the rule enforcers as police. Like­ wise, O'Sullivan (1994) identifies the rule in­ Look at the high and the low, all the world terpreters as jurors who determine if laws over, and it's the same story - the lower are correctly or wrongfully applied to allega­ classes used up, body, and soul, for the tions of illegal behavior, often in an adver­ good of the upper. So it is in England; and sarial contest consisting of the accusers and so it is everywhere; and yet all Christiandom the accused- a dualistic legal proceeding. stand aghast, with virtuous indignation. A melding of these contemporary ap­ (Stowe 1984 211-212) proaches with thoughts that are worthy of Hugo or Dostoyevsky, or an English legend, Total exploitation of the oppressed by the is derived from the history of hunting. oppressors was insitutionalized. Even though the practice was abhorred by many it was Hunting and fishing as sports were owned still allowed to exist, thus legitimizing it. This 122 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology opinion is further advanced by one of the launch the size of a large family van, the men books more notorious characters, Simon visited some inhabited islands. The follow­ Legree. ing lines depict how desperate men, but still Englishmen, looked upon the mannerisms Legree took silent note of Tom's availability. of some of the people whom they encoun­ He rated him as first-dass, and yet felt a tered. secret dislike to him - the native antipathy of the good for the bad. (Stowe 1984 349) These Indians were unlike any we had seen in the South Sea; they were coal black, tall, Legree, of course, considered himself to be and remarkably thin, with long skinny legs. the •good" guy because he was a white slave­ Two of the men stood leaning on their owner, whereas he viewed Tom as a ·bad" spears, with one knee bent, and the sole of guy because he was a black slave, even the foot pressed against the inside of the though the story proves otherwise. other thigh - an attitude common as it was Thus far, the cited findings underpin the uncouth. (Nordhoff & Hall 1946 116-117) premise that there are two major social classes in society which have caste-like or As gaunt, starved, exhausted, and as hope­ feudal qualities to them. However they are less and as helpless as they were, they were locally determined, they are commonly called still able to look askance upon people whose the •haves" and the •have-nots," with their mannerism were unfamiliar to them - that is, attendant features and obligations to each not Britons, but seen by others as .,oreign­ other. Still, several questions may be linger­ ers" in their own land. ing in mid-air, and they would include: •1s A similar sentiment about cultural sepa­ there to be any blending of them or diffusion ration is contained, once again, in Uncle between them?" and •1s it possible for there Tom's Cabin. to be more than one duality existing at any place or in any point in time?" There are an­ Now an aristocrat, you know the world swers to these questions. over, has no human sympathies, beyond a With regard to the possible amalgamation certain line in society. In England the line is between categories we can review parts of in one place, in Burmah another, and in the poem by Kipling, visit one of the Bounty America another, but the aristocrat in all of books, and then return to Stowe for the pos­ these countries never goes over the line. sible answer. First, Kipling's ~he Ballad of (Stowe 1984 224) East and Wesf' clearly identifies the vision of English colonialism and imperialism on this Together, Kipling, Nordhoff and Hall, and subject. Stowe are telling us that cooperation is im­ possible: Such a thought is never even con­ Oh, East is East, and West is West, and sidered in the tradition of the •haves" for the never the twain shall meet, •have-nots: It is evident, then, thatthat which Till Earth and Sky stand present at God's creates any dualism and maintains it is sim­ great Judgment Seat, ply ethnocentrism, and the ability of one cat­ But there is neither East nor West, Border, egory to exercise complete control over an­ nor Breed nor Birth, other. When two strong men stand face to face, In answer to the second question, it is tho' they come from the ends of the earth! possible for several dualisms to co-exist. (Kipling 1900) There are hints of this issue in Hugo's vol­ ume, but Stowe's book is used again be­ This expansionist sentiment is also covered cause of the logical substitutions derived in Nordhoff and Hall's Men Against the Sea from it, along with additional bolstering from (1946), the second book about the events Roosevelt. Stowe writes surrounding the H.M.S. Bounty. This story recounts the heroic voyage of [t)here stood two children, representatives Captain Bligh and eighteen of his loyal sea­ of the two extremes of society. The fair, man who were cast adrift by Fletcher Chris­ high-bred child, with her golden hair, her tian. In their forty-day journey, traveling about deep eyes, her spirited, noble brow, and 3,400 miles across the Pacific Ocean in a prince-like movement; and her black, keen, Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 123

subtle, cringing, yet acute, neighbor. There to sit down together. (Nordhoff & Hall 1960 stood the representatives of their races. 84) The Saxon, born of cultivation, command, education, physical and moral eminence; the Not only did the Tahitians make earthly Afric, born of ages of oppression, submis­ distinctions between men and women, but sion, ignorance, toil, and vice! (Stowe 1984 the division was given great credence be­ 244) cause the separation had a supernatural source. This division was enacted in daily While Stowe's images are fragrant with life as was shown in Pitcairn's Island, the the ethnocentric cultural conceit necessary final book about the mutineers. Having land­ for her story, we can take the categories ed on that fateful island, Fletcher Christian "Saxon" and "Afric" and replace them with and his followers sat down to eat. multiple substitutes: Republicans and Demo­ crats, privately-schooled and publicly­ The women, according to Polynesian cus­ schooled, upper-class and lower-class, full­ tom, waited until the men finished before time faculty and part-time faculty, the U.S. partaking of the food. Their hunger satis­ Senate and the House of Representatives, fied, the men drew apart and lay in the white-collar and blue-collar, military officers shade, some sleeping, some talking in des­ and enlisted personnel, as well as manage­ ultory fashion. (Nordhoff & Hall 1936 41) 1 ment and labor • The sets of labels are real and simultaneous, the identifiers being as The reader may wish to explore beyond important as the modifiers, and such ar­ the meager offerings cited in these pieces of rangements are universal, as is affirmed literature which contain confirmation of bilat­ elsewhere. eral classes in other general novels, poetry, Theodore Roosevelt is known for his and travel accounts. Several thematic nov­ Presidency, his burly anatomy, his robust life­ els, beyond Stowe's presentation of slavery style, and for his prolific writing. His book in the ante-bellum South, contain similar dis­ Through the Brazilian Wilderness (1920) is tinctions based on racial politics. Paton's Cry the tale of his travels and exploits in South the Beloved Country (1948), for example, is America. It was there that he saw at least two concerned with the existence and the effects dualisms existing together: One was based of apartheid in South Africa which was the on religion, and the other was founded upon law of the land for many years until its recent ethnicity. Roman Catholics were accorded legal demise. Another novel about racial poli­ higher social statuses than were members tics is Waugh's Island in the Sun (1955) of any other religious or spiritual background which weaves a complex story on a British­ because of the strong historic and mission­ governed island in the West Indies. This ary movements in the area. Then, Europe­ novel, unlike Paton's and like Stowe's, ad­ ans, especially Spaniards, were accorded dresses the subtle discrimination toward opportunities not available to others, for the people of blended heritage, in the manner same reason. that Stowe looked at the fates of the qua­ Two-tiered classes can be based on vari­ droons, the mulattos, and the Creoles in her ables other than ethnicity, economics, the story. law, and religion. Mutiny on the Bounty, the Changing direction, Uris' Trinity(1976) de­ first of the series, for example, reveals that tails social-class warfare in Ireland at the sex-gender identity can also serve as a ba­ turn of the 1800s into the 1900s, but the con­ sis for social differentiation, depending on flict is between Irish Roman Catholics and local mores, as in Tahiti during the time of British Anglican Protestants. Unlike Roose­ the story. velt's findings, the story's Roman Catholics are the underdogs, the "have-nots," in a land [T]he Indians believed that Man was sky­ where the political and economic institutions descended, and that woman was earth­ are controlled by people other than them­ born: Men raa, or holy; Women !Qi!, or com­ selves - that is, the numerically smaller but mon. Women were not permitted to set forth politically greater Anglo-"prots; a conflict in the temples of the greater gods, and which exists today. Without divulging too among all classes of society it was forbid­ much of the stories' plots, it is sufficient to den - unthinkable in fact - for the two sexes say that no matter how enlightened, noble- 124 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology minded, and "modem" the privileged cl~:~sses such inquiries can be made privately, it is are, traditions and practices are often resis­ now time to turn to sociological literatures tant to change. on two-sided class conflict and worker alien­ All of the authors presented have done ation. their homework well, for they have described societal scenes which are valid and are easy SOCIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE to envision. The writers can, then, be justifi­ Almost any introductory sociology textbook ably called sociologists without portfolios be­ informs the student that there are several cause they describe societies using read­ sets of class structures in our society. One of able and entertaining formulae, in much the these systems contains three categories same way that many of us can name a par­ being the upper-class, the middle-class, and ticular professor who made sociology, an­ the working- or the lower-class. Another con­ thropology, or the humanities come alive for figuration shows either five or six layers - the us. upper-upper, the lower-upper, the upper­ The print media portion of this review is middle, the lower-middle, and the upper­ finalized with a humorous, though pointed, lower and the lower-lower or the poverty level. poem which is often considered to be chil­ Then the third form, used in this article, con­ dren's literature, but really contains a high tains just two categories comprised of the level of social, moral, and adult sophistica­ enfranchised or the "haves; and the disen­ tion. Dr. Seuss wrote "The Sneetches." franchised or the "have-nots." So, just how many systems are there, and of what are the Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches composed? Had bellies with stars. All three stratified orders are consistent The Plain-Belly Sneetches with public opinions formed by way of the Had none upon thars. mass media, making an absolute definition Those stars weren't so big. They were re­ difficult; just as it is hard to identify perfect ally quite small. criteria for membership in any of the group­ You might think such a thing wouldn't mat­ ings. Further difficulties are posed because, ter at all. depending on the criteria used, and the pur­ But, because they had stars, all the Star­ poses to which they are put, we see multiple Belly Sneetches and contiguous categories. Emphasis here, Would brag, • We're the best of the Sneet­ however, is placed on the latter arrangement ches on the Beaches.' and the conflicts and the tensions which they With their snoots in the air, they'd huff and entail between the associations of people. they'd snort Any economic differences between clus­ We'll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly ters are based on a division of labor: People sort!' are skilled at different tasks, and organiza­ And whenever they met some, when they tions have complementary needs. The exist­ were out walking, ence of a bourgeoisie-managerial class is They'd hike right past them, without even just as important for business as a proletari­ talking. (Seuss 1961 3-4) at-worker class. In a perfect world they work in cooperation for mutual benefit, but all too No interpretation of meaning is needed, here. often the former exploits the latter, from which If the works cited had to be called a "popu­ tensions emerge, providing antagonisms lation" that was studied they would be la­ and preventing concert, and it is in such beled a combination of purposive and con­ strain that this article is grounded. venience samples. They were chose be­ Social conflict theory is rich in history, sub­ cause they uphold my stance and my change ject matters, interpretations, applications, and of thought, and because they were available in possibilities for social reform. We see its to me. They are not meant to exhaust the presence in pre-Solonic Greece prior to the range of evidence in popular outlets; in fact, advent of democracy; it is evident in the writ­ more findings can be seen in such movies ing of American, French, and Russian revolu­ as Driving Miss Daisy, Dirty Dancing, Ralph tionaries; it is contained in the writings of Cacchio's Crossroads, and The Cutting such sociologists as Weber, as Edwards, Edge, as well as old television series like as Marx, and as Seeman, as well as Becker Upstairs, Downstairs and Beacon Hill. While or O'Sullivan as earlier shown; and inequal- Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 125 ity is the calling card of class warfare be­ wage-earner division. A very generous rendi­ tween Democrats and Republicans. tion of the bourgeoisie means that its mem­ The following sections of the article offers bers are the monetary and the political high­ quick reviews of sociological presentations rollers of an area who are able to influence from Weber, from Edwards, and from Marx. or determine how the economic variables of Attention is then focused on illustrating land, labor, and capital are to be used; where­ worker alienation from a Marxian viewpoint, as a similarly liberal interpretation of the pro­ and the same is done with alienation from letariat means that its members represent the vision of Seeman, and these discussions everyone else whose lives are controlled by begin. the whims of those who are powerful - that is, the proles are the manor lords' vassals. If Weber, Edwards, and Marx: Briefly so, then the "haves" and the "have-nots" are Weber was kind enough to inform us that genuine, regardless of which specific crite­ social-class membership is usually a func­ ria are used for membership, as has been tion of the differential distribution of power, shown with ample evidence. prestige, esteem, and wealth. That is, the Another aspect of Marxian sociology is that more a person has of all of these rewards it looks at the relationship between the two then the higher the person's status is apt to classes from the perspective of the less­ be. In similar fashion, social-class affiliation powerful groups, because it is through them is also dependent upon a person's income, that social change will occur. This viewpoint occupation, and education- the more a per­ stands in opposition to the recreational son has of one, the greater the likelihood the pieces offered earlier, because it was there person owns more of the others, resulting in shown that the powerful assemblies deter­ variations in status assignment. mine the courses of history and local mores. In keeping with these thoughts, Edwards It is widely held in conflict theory that the dis­ has notified us that there are two categories content felt by the lower classes for the up­ of work in which people are likely to be en­ per classes contains the seed for social re­ gaged. Primary labor markets, on the one form - the ability to create history and new hand, are those occupations which have high futures through revolution for significant modi­ prestige accorded to them; require advanced fication of social institutions - with which I and continued schooling/training; earn high stand in some disagreement. economic returns; have high individuality and I would like to reveal through the corre­ autonomy of effort; and entail great personal sponding writings of Marx and of Seeman, satisfaction for work completed. Secondary and my fieldwork, the types of alienation labor markets, on the other hand, have lower which have been felt by factory workers be­ levels of social prestige; do not require ex­ cause they, as members of the proletariat, tensive education or skill development; have are disenfranchised and devalued due to the routinized, repetitive, and overseen work; in­ designs of a company's owners and their cur fairly low wages; and create great bore­ managers. The illustrations are derived from dom for the worker. A comparison of Weber's my employment and curiosity at "Industrial and Edward's contributions reify the thesis Development, Inc." (IDI), which is located in that there are two competitive and often du­ "Lichenville, IL," where we render out-sourced eling social classes in our society. sub-assemblies of engine parts for ~Woolly Some of the most noted discussions Bear, Inc.," a Fortune 500 company, whose about the sociology of economic life come corporate offices are in nearby "Will It Play from Marx and his friend Engels who cov­ Here? City." Woolly Bear has an international ered such diverse topics as modes of eco­ reputation and market for its earth-moving, nomic exchange, guidelines for economic mining, and farming products, as well as for reform, and analyses of different social its sturdy diesel engines. That company has classes. While the latter subject contains earned the nickname "Big Saffron" because descriptions of such groupings as the salari­ of the mellow yellow color of paint used on at, the landowners, a petite bourgeoisie, and its goods, and the company's sole labor un­ the lumpenproletariat, most modem socio­ ion is the "Unified Horseless-Carriage Work­ logical and activist emphases are placed pri­ ers of America: Let us now see how Marxian marily on the bourgeoise as an owner-mana­ sociology can be applied to IDI as it goes gerial category, and on the proletariat as a about the business of supplying parts for 126 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology

Woolly Bear. vert to the general fund. One payday we received our annual earn­ Elements of Alienation: Marx ings statements, and there was a negative One of Woolly Bear's main money mak­ entry for my year's total. I immediately asked ers is its diesel engine division which pro­ the personnel director what that meant, and vides the power units for its own products as I was told that the company did not earn a well as for such other commercial uses as profit for the past year When I asked her if the trucking and maritime industries. An en­ that was in the report filed to the Internal Reve­ gine block is put on an assembly line carou­ nue Service or in the report for the company's sel for its three-hour journey, along which all stockholders I was given a blank stare. Prof­ needed parts are attached. IDI people do the its seem to be elusive things, which the work­ sub-assemblies for almost all of the en­ ers are unable to comprehend or need not gine's external parts so that Woolly Bear's take interest. union workers only need to take the assigned IDI workers are also alienated from them­ parts from racks, kits, or tubs and bolt them selves since there are virtually no opportuni­ to the engine. 101 sub-assemblies are ac­ ties for upward social mobility within the tight­ complished in the interests of profitability for ly-run, almost managerially-incestuous, or­ Woolly Bear, meaning that costs are reduced ganization; and there are no chances for the when IDI does the work rather than having worker to show individual initiative or creativ­ union members do the same tasks. IDI peo­ ity. Assembly designs come from Woolly Bear, ple attach hoses and supports to radiators, and any variations from them will result in connectors to fuel-related parts, drains on product errors, subject to fine by the con­ oil pans, housings on clutches, and so on, tracting company. Each engine has a spe­ for Woolly Bear's products. IDI's workers are cific configuration and there is no tolerance . thus deprived from the feeling of accomplish­ for variations and mistakes. Even if a worker ment with the final product because they usu­ knows from experience that an engineering ally only work on one type of part in a single flaw is present, the product must be sent as bench area, and are almost never allowed defined; interestingly, then, the worker will entry into Woolly Bear's plants due to secu­ be held responsible for the mistake by his or rity reasons. Work, then, is boring and repeti­ her employers. Repeated mishaps can re­ tive, and there is little a person can do except sult in a •no questions asked" firing, and a "grin and bear it, • or maybe seek cloned work replacement worker will be hired at a lower at one of Woolly Bear's other suppliers wage whenever possible. where only lateral or horizontal social mobil­ The fourth form of alienation, according to ity is attained, at best. Marx, is separation of the workers from them­ IDI employees are also alienated from the selves to keep them from becoming a collec­ profd which the company eams. Assemblers tive, conscious, and conscientious body poli­ are paid a wage which starts at $7.25 per tic, and such detachment is actively promoted hour, a working poor earning, and have a in several ways. Since IDI is not a union shop, modal rate of about $8.00 or $8.50 per hour; fault is quickly found with any worker who and a few workers earn as much as $9.00 to openly discusses unionization or violations $10.00 per hour. The company does have of OSHA safety regulations. We are constantly profit-sharing as its •retiremenr plan where­ told that we should spend our days working in an employee is fully vested after five years ceaselessly, and that we should chit-chat of employment. However, only about twenty among ourselves only during breaks or lunch of the IDI's 250 employees are so situated periods. Managers are famous for finding because people quit often, relinquishing any hiding places where they can spy on us; and shares which may have been earned. When workers who jobs require movement through an employee nears full enrollment in the plan the facilities have been followed by supervi­ it is common for personnel director to lower sors, foremen, or leads who make notations the person's wages, then reassign the em­ of the person's movements and conversa­ ployee to a job which is either dirtier, harder, tions. I surmise that IDI's owners and man­ or on another shift, hoping that the worker agers feel that we are a disruptive cabal, ac­ will quit; and people have been fired just prior tively plotting the demise of the company; but, to maturation - because all forfeited monies there is no evidence to prove that several from voluntary or involuntary terminations re- bomb threats were made by anyone associ- Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 127 ated with the company, past or present. to her because they were not at work, yet. It As was mentioned at the beginning of this would seem that he does not like her, and he article, I had never been in an employment does not like us. setting wherein I formed a deep apprecia­ My own interactions with the foreman sup­ tion for the "workers" or the "have-nots." Re­ port the same contempt and distrust. I had a flecting on my downward occupational and severe accident at work which required long economic mobilities, as well as daily inter­ disability leaves for healing, therapies, sur­ actions with my working colleagues, I have gery, and more therapies. I stopped at 101 changed my mind about the value of conflict with some papers from my doctor and medi­ and alientatiori sociologies stemming from cal bills when the foreman walked past me, the ideas of Marx, but since his ideas do not and instead of inquiring about my health he stand alone, I turn to the thoughts of Seeman asked me, "When are YOU coming back?" as I continue to share this paradigm shift. He does not like me, but once again he made it obvious that he does not like us. Elements of Alienation: Seeman Company officials justifiably treat alibi ail­ Like Marx before him, Seeman took a hu­ ments with suspicion. Yet, when people are manistic stand in his investigations by look­ truly sick or have been injured on the job they ing at workers' viewpoints about themselves are still treated with unwarranted disdain and and the places where they work because the wariness - as if infirmities are malingering employee is the focal point, the subject and or show lack of fealty to 101. the object, of private experiences. Accordingly, Seeman's self-estrangement is likened Seeman also identifies matters of economic to alienation from work processes (Hobson alienation which are valid from the discern­ & Sullivan 1990 98) because there are few ment of the worker, and I would like to review additional material payoffs as incentives be­ them and illustrate them, still using 101 as yond actual wages. IOI's retirement plan is the specific setting. built for long-term employees, and there are Seeman's powerlessness is the inability no bonuses for hourly workers for work well to control one's work environment, and Hob­ done. The company does have a quarterly son and Sullivan (1990 98) state that this bonus of $100.00 for perfect attendance, but condition is virtually identical to Marx's alien­ when it is earned it is attached to the next ation from the product, because the worker paycheck so it becomes taxable income. can do nothing to affect the processes of pro­ However, if a person is five minutes late for duction. I would like to go one step further work, or if a person has to leave work for a and note that powerlessness also refers to doctor's visit or a court appointment, then the general managerial disregard for con­ the reward is nullified. Pay raises are small, structive input which the worker might have. rare, and denied to individuals as punish­ In a weekly safety meeting and "pep talk" our ment. I received my last wage increase more foreman always reminds us that no one, not than three years ago, and since insurance even himself, knows our individual work ar­ costs have risen in that time my net pay is eas as well as we do. Would it stand to rea­ lower than it was then. son, then, that if, through such knowledge, An extension of this theme addresses the we might have reasonable ideas for the im­ duration and conditions of employment at provement of production and safety? "Not!" It 101: It is not guaranteed, and exists only as is their reasoning that the plant has been long as the company's officials want an em­ designed for maximum efficiency and safety, ployee on site to do the assigned and rote so no changes need to be made. work. So, if someone walks to the time clock Our foreman seems to enjoy playing a at the beginning of a shift and finds the card psychological game with his pattern of praise missing then the employee has been fired, in one breath and foul berating in the next. and the company does not need to give ad­ His efforts to make us feel as if we are im­ vance notice. There are no job assurances, portant people is overridden by open disre­ and people are fired with stalinistic efficiency gard and contempt for us as peers. An ex­ and eldritch glee. ample of his true feeling for us occurred when Seeman's notion of social isolation he met an employee at a convenience store seems to correspond with Marx's alienation on the way to work and she tried to say "hello" from others (Hobson & Sullivan 1990 98). to him. He told her that he did not have to talk 101 workers perform thousands of assam- 128 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology biles for the union workers at Woolly Bear, tion of cultural disengagement wherein work­ but equal statuses are not assigned to both ers are not in touch with dominant ideolo­ sets of workers. Woolly Bear's workers re­ gies or sets of creative ideas in society, and ceive much higher wages than we do, and it is here, I believe, that both caution and addi­ that company's reputation for quality is found­ tional research are needed before signifi­ ed upon the union's claims of superior work­ cant conclusions can be drawn. Indeed, manship through collective bargaining and many of IOI's employees are not highly training. A brief story indicates the differences trained, educated, or apparently interested of comparative opinion which at least one in outside pursuits, but there are exceptions 101 worker has about himself and others. to this rule: "Sam; for example, is president I played golf with some of my buddies one of a local astronomy club and he is the man­ day after work, and as we drifted into the pro ager of the city's celestial observatory and shop I hailed one of them by asking, "Hey, telescope. While profane lunchroom banter don't we work together at 1011· He did not is an index of disinterested people who have want, under any set of circumstances, not no desire to expand their horizons, it must even jokingly, and certainly not in public, to be remembered that schooled interests re­ be linked to, or embarrassed by, 101 and its quire free time, disposable incomes, and local reputation. We still play together. rudimentary skills, so many of my colleagues Seeman also talks about normlessness do not have the opportunities, wherewithal, wherein codes of conduct are either non-ex­ or the talents to follow artistic, philosophical, istent or anomie (Ourkheim 1951; Merton ideological, educational, or linguistic endeav­ 1968), or they are so fluid in their interpreta­ ors. tions and applications that they may as well This element of disengagement, along be fictitious. It would seem that Seeman was with the absence of a collective identity, is almost prescient about 101 and its manage­ especially consequential for the maintenance rial orientations towards behavior standards. of a system of inequality. The inability of a Safety glasses and steel-toed shoes are to labor mass to experiment with alternative ide­ be worn by everyone on the factory floor - ologies and economic practices due to the except, it seems, by even such managers apparent absence of opportunity inhibits as our safety officer. No one is supposed to social change. An individuated class of peo­ smoke or have open beverage containers ple "in itself' does not mean that it can be on the work floor - except, apparently, by su­ tral"slated into a unified body of people "for pervisory personnel who openly smoke and itself' when it lacks skills, leadership, and drink coffee as they wander around keeping resources to do so. The system, then, per­ their vigil on us. No one is supposed to be petuates itself. eating as they assemble- except, apparently, When I interviewed my subjects I did so managers who eat at their corrals on the with discretion to maintain their dignity, trust floor. Late attendance or absence without just in me, confidentiality, and to avoid arousing reason results in dismissal without pay, for suspicion by company officials. One of the one day or for three, depending on frequency questions on my agenda was, "If you could - except, apparently, for "brown-nosers• when change just one thing about 101, what would rules are suspended or bent. Foul language it be?· The pervasive and plaintive response is discouraged, except when an employee was along the lines of "Change their [man­ is being reprimanded. References to canine agement's] attitudes toward us: which ancestry or personal habits are not tolerated, seems to summarize and encapsulate the except for when a worker gets chastised by sociological descriptors we have about alien­ a manager. Laws forbid sexual harassment, ation, but certainly not expressed so elo­ yet, one day a former lead of mine told me quently and as scholarly as academicians that ·he loved me, and neither my supervisor have done. That descriptive task was left to nor my foreman took any corrective action for such people as Marx or Seeman who objec­ his misdeed. In other words, it is difficult to tified the subjectivity of personal experience predict what will happen from one day to the and dissatisfaction of workers in place. So, it next, except that we work our shift and depart seems that both Geyer and Harris are cor­ - tired, dirty, smelly, and sweaty - leaving def­ rect when they state that it is the analyst who erence to ill-tempered managers behind us. ascribes the labels and the language of Finally, Seeman acknowledges the condi- alienation rather than the repressed, thus Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 129 representing the best of ethnography's in­ gerial obligations of our foreman. I acknowl­ terpretive traditions. edged the fact that the man has a formidable My understanding of worker conflict and task to maintain production schedules and alienation theories is dependent upon the standards, and the general interests of the materials I have read, and upon my ability to company; but many employees feel that his relate to them and apply them. It is also un­ communication skills need improvement. derscored from over four years of employ­ The general supervisor appreciated my in­ ment at 101, which allows me the opportunity put, and indicated that employees' ideas are to add several other notations about the sur­ always valuable and welcome because we roundings of discontented members of a are important assets to the company, at proletariat. which point he departed. The guys with whom I was eating and I concluded that we are OTHER DISHEARTENING ENVIRONMENTAL more like resources than pieces of property CONDITIONS which offset liabilities on accounting balance In addition to the known elements of alien­ sheets. Words convey meanings, and the ation and exclusion, there are two less tan­ choice of words offers insight into the speak­ gible, and important, factors which are asso­ er's vision; and the difference between an ciated with being economically "kept," and asset and a resource is a clear index of dis­ they can either serve as conduits through parate points of view. which all other ideas flow, or they can be seen Such variations in thought are abundant as umbrella covers under which the others in recreational reading as shown by the are included. Wage-earning factory workers, thoughts of, or conversations between, story including myself, my fellows, and the employ­ characters; but the authors of such tales have ees of Woolly Bear, feel as if we are human more literary license than academicians are chattel, to be used and discarded with as allowed, so oftentimes we can only hint at much sentiment as a replaced spark plug disparagement with antiseptic language. for a car; and there is a strong feeling of nega­ Like the unwanted, expressed, and unde­ tivity which permeates the worker's psyche. served feelings of inferiority and being totally Both sensations are actually promoted by controlled, negativity is as thick on the floor management, itself, as the following sets of of 101 as are its industrial dirt, grime, forklift orientations indicate. truck tire dust, oil slicks, loose parts and dis­ carded dunnage. Human Chattel The word "chattel" has several meanings. Negativity Originally, the term meant cattle which are This term also has several meanings owned, controlled, and herded by ranch own­ which include an absence of positive attrib­ ers and ranch hands; they are live property. utes, and responding in a direction away Another definition for the word means that it from that which is positive. In the assembly is the owned physical capital of a person or arena of 101 it means a condition of entrap­ a business enterprise; it is non-animate prop­ ment or slavery wherein nothing the worker erty. Cattle have no free will over their owner­ does is seen as being worthwhile, and ship or their plight to become t-bone steaks wherein the employee receives little, if any, or hamburgers, and a machine is just as constructive input from managers. It also incapable of emotions or affecting its des­ means that the worker almost always re­ tiny. Neither definition for the expression can ceives a negative response for any inquiry, be credited to IDI's management as they look as a list of actual questions and answers upon their workers as just so many pieces shows: "Can I have a raise?" No. "Can I work of property which, not who, can be manipu­ another shift?" No. "Can I transfer to another lated and replaced for any number of real or building?" No. "Can I work under another imagined reasons; but I want to provide a lead?" No. "Would you please install an elec­ specific example of such a mind-set from a trical outlet so I can have a fan?" No. "Can I conversation I had with a manager as evi­ go to Woolly Bear on the 'hot truck' to see dence of IDI's microcosmic specimen of how the line works?" No. "Can I change my bourgeois mentality. vacation schedule?" No. "Can we open the While on a lunch break I had a chance to big doors for better air circulation? - it's hot talk to a general supervisor about the mana- in here." No. "How does this part work on the 130 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology engine?" I dunno. "Will we be laid off when pany. Woolly Bear goes on vacation?" I dunno. "Why Since many of IOI's workers are openly can't we open the big doors?" I dunno. "Is unhappy with their employment milieu, there Woolly Bear gonna keep this product line?" I are several means by which they can adjust. dunno. "Are we gonna get any new lines from The 101 worker-rebel may quit spontaneously our competitors?" I dunno. otWhy can't I have with great fanfare and name-calling, to which an electrical outlet for a fan?" I dunno. IDI's leaders pay no heed, except to escort Someone, somewhere, once said that the now-former employee to the exit; much knowledge is power. If that adage is true, personal satisfaction is felt, though, because, then the owners and managers of 101 work following the title of Johnny Paycheck's popu­ hard to keep us ignorant and powerless; and, lar song, 101 is told to "Take This Job and speaking as a wage earner, it gets old, quick­ Shove It!" - many a worker's dream. The 101 ly. Our foreman's version of positive feed­ worker-retreatist also quits figuring that work­ back is to tell us that we had no fines levied ing there is just not worth the effort to stay, against us by Woolly Bear. There are other and may even feel that unemployment pays ways to express satisfaction, like a simple more than 101 does. The 101 worker-innova­ •attaboy," but that would seem humane for tor becomes a Workers' paladin, or a reform­ the company's handlers who appear well­ er, hoping to make 101 a better place to work. versed in the history of feudal lord-vassal re­ Managers neither like provocateurs nor do lationships. Maybe they selectively agree with they tolerate their commentary: they do not some of Zeitlan's (1968) synopses of rela­ want troublemakers, making it convenient for tionships between elites and non-elites ac­ them to look for errors in the worker's habits cording to either Pareto, Mosca, or Michels; as justification for dismissal. Even if fired, or perhaps they identify with Tolstoy's Vasilii employees find some solace in the expres­ Andreich, with Stowe's Simon Legree, or with sion •1 was looking for a job when I found this William Bligh as they go about micro-manag­ one," but there are still two alternative ing the daily affairs of the small fiefdom called choices. Industrial Development, Inc. The 101 worker-ritualist realizes entrap­ Much time has been spent discussing the ment, but may have even fewer options so subjugation of workers at 101, but little atten­ the employee goes about assigned duties tion has been paid here or elsewhere to iden­ mechanically and well, while avoiding com­ tify how workers might adapt to a non-halcy­ pany politics which could result in trouble. onic environment. That task is now accom­ Finally, the 101 worker-conformist is fairly con­ plished using Merton's well-known modes tent with his or her lot, and engages in con­ of adaptation with a theoretical twist. structive output for the company - assuming new duties voluntarily and casually which AMERTONIANAPPUCATION later take on the aura of assignments; mak­ It is rare in sociology to see the writings of ing no errors in assembly; talking positively conflict and alienation exemplars joined with about the company and its owner-manag­ the offerings of someone who is often con­ ers, and so on. The workers ritualist and con­ sidered to be an archetypical functionalist, formist stay because work is proximate to and it is daring to use that person's para­ their homes; because a spouse works there, digm in a conflict vein; yet, both are accom­ too; because a court requires it; because the plished in this article. Once used by O'Sulli­ worker has no real marketable skills so he van (1995) to show how people go about the or she can get by, there; because the employ­ process of religious congregation switching ee likes the company; or, because other life resulting from spiritual dissatisfaction, Mer­ circumstances affect employment. As we say, ton's goals-means model shows how IOI's "It's the job I have today," _but 101 is only where wage earners can cope with their loneliness. we work; it does not define who we are. The five adaptations can be sorted into There is now an interesting theoretical two major groupings. Three of the modes twist centering on these chOices. Yes, the are labeled as belonging to a quit-dismissed workers who leave and the ones who stay range of possibilities, and the remaining two are apt to feel rewarded in some way - they are arranged into a stay-retained cluster. "win," either morally or financially. Yet, the Each set of outcomes has specific and dif­ company is designed for its own "win-win" ferent benefits to the worker and to the com- benefit. Disruptive employees have left by Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 131 one way or another, while the ones who re­ locales, as the comparison between Roose­ main get paid the lowest wage possible, with velt's observations and the groups in Uris' full knowledge of their voluntary serfdom book clearly showed; and further difficulty is plight, earning profits for people who do not evident when someone ranks high on one seem give a whit about their workers. The status scale, yet low on another. conflict-based division of outcomes identi­ However, once focus is shifted to micro­ fied here, the rules of engagement between level economies and businesses like 101 the bourgeoisie owner-managers and the where absentee owners' managers yield un­ proletarian workers, are always maintained heralded palatine power over third-estate by those who are in positions of privilege. workers, or to universities which out-source This aspect of Mertonian sociology, then, fits teaching loads to adjunct faculty members2, well with other conflict and alienation sociolo­ then the tensions and disparities of power, gies according to the connected sayings prestige, and privilege become apparent to "Take it or or leave if' and "There's the door" even the casual observer. It is here, then, - both suggestions being oft-spoken by our that I believe conflict and alienation scholars bosses. are more correct in their understandings of My appreciation for the differential distri­ class struggles than I had been willing to bution of power and privilege has changed acknowledge- the divisions are real and con­ over the past several years. However, I am sequential, although tensions and antago­ not a complete convert, and there is need to nisms vary locally. identify some of my reservations. CONCLUSION ASHORTDISCUSSJONABOUTCHANGES OF Personal narrative is a useful research VIEW device for the social scientist because it per­ Scholars have long paid attention to con­ mits the vision of insight via the voice of the flict and alienation studies, discussing the first-person singular research subject. The origins of their practices and terminologies, speaker, though, may not be qualified to in­ as well as addressing their religious, philo­ terpret personal thoughts or activities, or be sophical, and religious dimensions (Geyer able to put information into a larger intellec­ 2001; Lichtheim 1968; Seeman 1959, 2001 ). tual context. Enter, then, the ethnographer to Because the type of work which a person accomplish those tasks with visual imagery does, and where that person works, are of­ for appropriate audiences. ten co-indices of a master status, significant Given that the scientist is also a partici­ attention has been paid to the psycho-socio­ pant in society, and thus has experiences logic-economic aspects of alienation by look­ which no one else has had, then the analyst ing at workers who are separated from the can and should use autoethnography to be­ dominant means of production and the deter­ come the subject of study, narrating from the mination of economic policies. Emphases actor-observer self, putting that which has have shown the disparities of rewards and been recounted into appropriate frames of privileges between the bourgeoisie control­ reference for scholarly use. By so doing, the ling class and the proletarian subdued class. investigator can add credence to the disci­ While my views on this subject have pline, and continuity can be given to that which changed, I do not completely agree with the has already been learned, not through repli­ monotonous chorus of universal tension, an­ cation because that would be impossible, xiety, and class warfare. I do not believe that but through closely-related studies. there can be all-encompassing macro-level, For example, the data used by Marx and national, or international conspiracies on the by Seeman are valid by themselves. While parts of the "haves" to control the Khave-nots" acquiring confirmation through continued because ample evidence has been provided study, those findings can assume additional showing diversity of dichotomies to dispel meaning for the scholar-teacher when the the contention of collusion. I also do not be­ constancy is affirmed directly and personal­ lieve that there can be unified efforts on the ly. The teacher-scholar can then say •Marx parts of the Khave-nots" to overthrow the was right after all, and I can attest to his con­ Khaves" for the same reason. Membership clusions because ... " In similar fashion the in either a Khave" or a Khave-not" category teacher-scholar can debate Gottman's does not hold true over time and in different (1961) ideas on regimentation of life in total 132 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology institutions by saying "Not all of our soldiers' Durkheim E 1951 Suicide NY: Free Press. daily lives are as strictly ordered as he says Edwards R 1979 Contested Terrain NY: Basic they are, and I know that because ... • A sense Books. of trust and credibility is almost automati­ Forsyth C & CE Palmer 1999 A typology of artists cally accorded to someone who can hon­ found on Jackson Square in New Orleans' French Quarter Free lnq Creal Soc 27 9-17. estly say, "Been there, done that: Geyer F 2001 Alienation, sociology of. 388-392 in Sociologists easily become too comfort­ NJ Smelser & PB Baltes eds International En­ able with old notes, and may develop myo­ cyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sci­ pia because they treat ideal types as real ences NY: Elsevier. types; because •they see the world through Goffman E 1961 Asylums Garden City, NY: Double­ small openings in their ivy-covered windows; day Anchor. and because they only view social actuality Harris M 1968 The Rise of Anthropological Theory by way of questionnaires whose responses NY: Thomas Y. Crowell. are coded for computer-generated statistics. Hobson R & TA Sullivan 1990 The Social Organi­ zation of Worll' Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Many college students are first-generation Hugo V 1987 Les Miserables NY: New American attendees, and their families know about the Library. "real world. because they are police officers, Hummel R 1994 Hunting and Fishing for Sport military cadre, factory workers, secretaries, Bowling Green, OH: Popular Press. truck drivers, prison guards, dental hygien­ Kipling R 1900 The ballad of east and west. Se­ ists, carpenters, are on workman's compen­ lected Worll's of Rudyard Kipling 3. NY: Peter sation disability, and so on. If an instructor Fenelon Collier. talks "sociologese· to students about topics Lichtheim G 1968 Alienation. 264-268 in DL Sills ed wherein the student is a practical expert and International Encyclopedia of the Social Sci­ ences 1 NY: MacMillan. the teacher is not, then a built-in "b.s. alarm· Marx K 1959 The Economic and Philosophical will wam that the forthcoming lecture is based Manuscripts of 1844 M Milligan tr Moscow: In­ less on experience and more on laziness, ternational Publishers. theory, narrow and limited observations, and Merton RK 1968 Social Theory and Social Struc­ on crunched numbers. ture NY: Free Press. Most of us entered the social sciences or Nordhoff C & JN Hall 1936 Pitcairn's Island Bos­ the humanities because we felt they were ton: Little, Brown. fun, controversial, and vital to us and tooth­ --::---:- 1946 Men Against the Sea NY: Pocket ers. It is time to make them so again by allow­ Books. --=--1960 Mutiny on the Bounty Boston: Little, ing us to look knowingly at our surroundings Brown. in several ways. Either before the degrees O'Sullivan RG 1994 Moral entrepreneurs, local plan is finished, or during vacations and sab­ morality, and labeling processes Free lnq Great baticals, we should become cops, truck driv­ Soc 22 73-77. ers, stevedores, laborers, roughnecks and 1995 Congregation switching and reli­ roustabouts, or teachers in public-/inner-city --g-:-io_u_s revitalization Free lnq Creal Soc 23 39- schools, thus permitting us the opportuni­ 41. ties to use our voices of the first- and the Paton A 1948 Cry the Beloved Country NY: Charles third-person singular, the actor-observer, to Scribner's Sons. Reimer JW 1977 Varieties of opportunistic re­ challenge our world views, academic truths, search Urban Life 5 467-477 and ideal types, in order to help our peers Ronai-Rambo C & C Ellis 1989 Tum-ons for money: and students evoke theirs. interactional strategies of the table dancer J Contemp Ethnography 18 271-298. REfERENCES Roosevelt T 1920 Through the Brazilian Wilder­ Adler PA & P Adler 1987 Membership in Field ness NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. Research Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Seeman M 1959 On the meaning of alienation Amer Alborn M 1997 Tuesdays With Morrie NY: Double­ Sociological Rev 24 783-791. day. --,-- 2001 Alienation: psychosociologal tradi­ Becker HS 1963 Outsiders NY: Free Press. tion. 385-388 in NJ Smelser & D Baltes eds Berger PL 1963 An Invitation to Sociology NY: International Encyclopedia of the Social and Doubleday. Behavioral Sciences 1. NY: Elsevier. Dostoyevsky F 1950 Crime and Punishment NY: Seuss Dr 1961 The sneetches. 20-25 in The Sneet­ Random House. ches and other Stories NY: Random House. Duneier M 1992 Slim's Table Chicago: U Chicago Stowe HB 1984 Uncle Tom's Cabin Cutchogue, Press. NY: Buccaneer Books. Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 133

Thompson HS Hell's Angels 1967 NY: Ballantine ENDNOTES Books. 1 An argument could also be made that Hummel's Tolstoy L 1977 Master and man. Pp 67-126 in Mas­ (1994 44-46) elitist-exclusive and democratic­ ter and Man and Other Stories NY: Penguin inclusive attitudes toward sportsmanship fit Classics. into an opposing class system, but that would Uris L 1976 Trinity NY: Doubleday. require work beyond the current project. Waugh AR 1955 Island in the Sun NY: Farrar 2Another interesting study would be the investiga­ Strauss and Cudahy. tion of colleges' and universities' out-sourced Weber M 1978 Economy and Society. R Roth & W instruction via temporary faculty members, but Wittrich trs. Berkely, CA: U California Press. I fear that acquiring sufficient information would Zeitlan IM 19681deology and the Development of be difficult. Sociological Theory Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren­ tice-Hall. 134 Volume 30 No. 2 November 2002 Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology