World of work

This book concerns American industry and commerce. It is based on the conviction that knowledge comprises facts, and ideas about how the facts relate to one another. The facts we call empirical knowledge; the ideas we call theoretical knowledge. Knowledge is not complete without both. I have given prominence to ideas about work in our society because I think in the analysis of this important aspect of social behavior we have been singularly naive about the theory we have used. At the same time, I have sought dili gently all the facts I could accumulate from studies and observations of working behavior, to maximize the practical knowledge about which the theory makes sense.

This entire volume is devoted to what people do while they are working, and the reasons for their behavior. The world of work is given more exten sive coverage, and intensive analysis, than in any comparable volume. I have purposely minimized the treatment of union-management relations in this book in order to be able to include the scope and depth of materials covered. This does not mean I consider union and company relations unimportant. The opposite is true. In my opinion, industrial relations are so crucial for the economy that their analysis has been reserved for a companion volume, Robert Dubin, Working Union-Management Relations (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1958). The two volumes together analyze the major facets of American industrial society. They share a common theoretical framework, and can be read in sequence or independently.