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Work -- a process as familiar to everyone
as their daily routines -- has changed radically in nature
over the centuries. Most of these changes have involved
revolutionary steps, influencing significantly the way people
live and behave. Two of these -- the agrarian revolution
(when people abandoned their hunter -- gatherer lifestyles
and grouped together in farming communities) and the industrial
revolution (where people began to concentrate on farms and
cities) -- were watersheds in the evolution of work. A third
revolution in the way we work and live, driven this time
by new technology, appears to be under way in the new millennium.
But, old habits and attitudes invests society with an extraordinary
resilience to change. Donkin calls it "social drag."
The strongest of the attitudes -- the protestant work ethic
-- rooted in 16th c. English Puritanism, has led to a make-work
society in which values have been distorted.
Blood, Sweat & Tears is a captivating
history of work, from the prehistoric times to the present
day. It offers fascinating and intelligent analyses of the
individuals, assumptions, theories, developments and practices
that have so much changed work. Based on detailed research
from around the world, the author examines early societies,
slavery, the guilds, the creation of trade secrets and the
influence of religion on work (such as the humanist ideals
of the great Quaker industrialists). Donkin also investigates
the ideas of the theorists, such as F.W. Taylor, Max Weber,
Elton Mayo, Mary Parker Follett and W. Edwards Deming, and
the impact they have had on our lives. And, controversially,
the author challenges the work ethic on behalf of all those
whose lives have become subsumed by the demands of employers,
asking the question: Why do we do it?
Richard Donkin is a leading columnist
and writer for the Financial Times newspaper, specializing
in work and management topics. He regularly appears on radio
and contributes to other leading magazines on issues relating
to business.
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