Toward an Information Society: Changing Occupational Structure in Singapore

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The impact of industrialization on the occupational structure of modern society has long been one of the major focuses in sociology. To the sociologist, a change in the occupational structure reflects not only changes in the economic relations of employment and the labor force but often significant transformations in social structure and social relations because occupation is generally regarded as the most important indicator of a person's social status and life style. A changing occupational structure mirrors changes in social organization and human relationships. The general trend of social change in the industrialization process has been a major theme of the classic theories of sociology. For example, Marx argued that in a capitalist society, the occupational roles would inevitably polarize into two antagonistic classes: the capitalist and the proletariat. Class struggle is inevitable. Durkheim believed that changes in occupational structure lead to qualitative changes in the nature of social solidarity. Social order is maintained through mechanical solidarity in a simple society with members of the society sharing common customs and values. With increasing division of labor, the society with a complex occupational structure is integrated on the basis of organic solidarity. In Weber's view, the key to development, as demonstrated by western history, is rationalization: the tendency to be calculative and functionally