Labor, Division of

Abstract

Labor (or work) denotes an activity necessary to secure human existence. The division of labor refers to the system of work specialization and differentiation. It is an active force in social structuring, economic development, and the lived experience of individuals. Gender, age, and ethnic origin are the most important dividing factors in traditional societies. There, power and coercion are main causes for the form this division of labor takes. In modern societies the highly complex division of labor is caused above all by the social foundations and the dynamics of extended industrialism (capitalism, socialism, or communism). In its narrow meaning, the division of labor describes the breaking down of complex work processes into simpler and more detailed tasks. In a wider social sense the concept refers to structure and differentiation as the consequence of specialization in society at large. Because of its complexity, differentiation between the various dimensions of the division of labor, and levels it refers to, is essential. Major aspects, as the sexual or gendered division of labor, and the detailed, technical, occupational, hierarchical, global, or international division of labor will be dealt with in this article. Finally, with increasing diversification, interdependence and the questions of cohesion and solidarity require greater consideration.