Skill and Samuel Smiles: Changing the British Work Ethic

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines how skill and occupation affect the work ethic. The evidence presented suggests that the work ethic is not declining because of social change, as many observers have claimed, but rather that the strength of the work ethic reflects skill levels, and rises amongst groups that attain higher skill. It may therefore be possible to strengthen the work ethic by improving skills training amongst the less skilled. As in other chapters in this book the findings will be analysed in the light of previous research in the sociology of work and neighbouring fields of study. Previous research and debate on the work ethic, however, and the relevance of this research to skill issues, are perhaps less well known than the other problematics discussed in this book. Some of this earlier work will therefore be briefly examined in the first section of this chapter. (A full review can be found in Rose, 1988a.) The discussion will also refer to some problems and con troversies in social and economic policy in the 1980s in Britain.