Work Careers and Aspirations of Automobile Workers

Abstract

3HE purpose of the present study I is to determine the extent to which modern mass production methods affect the career patterns of production workers, the degree to which aspirations are modified by long experience in this kind of mass production environment, and whether workers question seriously the validity of the tradition of opportunity. 2 The data are derived from personal interviews in the homes of 202 hourly production workers employed for at least twelve years in an automobile final assembly plant in an eastern metropolitan area. The sample, representing 14 per cent of the 1435 hourly production workers, was stratified according to several factors, including type of job, department, age, marital status, seniority, and others. Additional information was gathered from extended interviews with management and union officers. Personnel data were drawn from the personnel files. A certain amount of comparative data was taken from an earlier study of 180 new workers in a new automobile assembly plant.3 The first phase of this report is concerned with the actual career pattern of workers in the hourly production ranks. The second part of the inquiry is concerned with aspirations and more specifically with the