Evolution of Work: Industrial Revolution, Globalization & UK Policies

This report examines the transformation of working practices since the Industrial Revolution, highlighting the shift from agrarian societies to industrialized urban centers. It discusses the impact of urbanization and industrialization, including the rise of factories, child labor, and the emergence of class conflicts as described by Marxist theory. The report further explores the influence of globalization on working practices, the role of socio-economic factors, and the impact of UK employment laws such as the Employment Rights Act 1966 and the Equality Act 2010. It also touches upon sociological theories like functionalism and conflict theory, motivational theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and the changing role of women in the workforce, especially in the post-pandemic era, emphasizing flexible working hours and improved work environments. The report concludes by noting that work is a basic necessity for people and those individuals who do not have work are usually stressed and suppressed by others.

The World of Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Discussing changes in working practices since industrial revolution.........................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Work is defined any physical activity that is undertaken in order to achieve some result or
objective by individual. Also, present report will identify work carried out after the industrial
revolution in terms of changes where people needing and wanting to work. Moreover, the study
will identify impacts of urbanization and industrialization on the people both in positive and
negative manner. Moreover, certain reasons for current change in working practices among the
people will also be presented through using various theories and examples. Furthermore, certain
socio-economic factors will also be identified that exist in times of globalization that influences
change in the society. Lastly, two policies of UK will be analysed under this study so that
current working environment and impact on the society in terms of social and mental well-being
especially on women might be analysed in best of manner.
MAIN BODY
Discussing changes in working practices since industrial revolution
Work is been carried out since people want to fulfil certain goals to earn basic living way
before the industrial revolution. Also, earlier in those times people used to work in exchange for
some goods rather than earning the money. Moreover, this signifies that people have changed
relationship with people and object as now in exchange for any object certain amount of money
need to be paid (Hughes and Southern, 2019). Also, before the industrial revolution times it was
seen that most of the people were having hard times as employees were exposed to certain risks
and dangers. Moreover, all the workplaces areas were poorly ventilated have toxic exposures of
chemicals, dust particles and much more that harms the living of the people to larger extent.
Also, manufacturing of various goods was undertaken in various people house using the basic
tools and machines. Moreover, people were finding difficulty in living due to which most of the
people grow their own produce and food to live happy and peaceful life and to sustain large
families smoothly.
However, with upcoming of the industrial revolution it can be said that people started
moving towards the cities' so that standards of living might be improved. Also, there was much
ease in work as factories became bigger and produced goods on larger scale to serve customers
very well. Thus, industrial revolution created more opportunities to work and thus employed
large number of people for growth for the country. Due to increase in industrialization

transportation and communication among the people also improved to large extent. However,
major demerit of industrial revolution was that there were more cases of child labour because of
the growing number of families and population. Moreover, people during these times were
interested during the work not only to satisfy basic needs but also to fulfil certain wants them to
wish to fulfil and is out of their reach (Herbert and et.al., 2021). Furthermore, this concept might
be linked to Marxism that is social, economic and political philosophy named after the Karl
Marx. Based on this concept it said that the whole world is divided into two groups of people one
is richer class and another is workers class. Furthermore, the richer class of people exploit the
workers that are working hard to earn the living. Thus, such differences would only leads in
creating class conflicts among the people that are working closely within any economy. Hence,
industrial revolution brought its own merits and demerits that have to be faced by each and every
individual.
Moreover, the period of industrialization had lead to urbanization by creating economic
growth that force people to move form villages to cities. Also, major advantage of urbanization
is that it has created establishment of multiple factories so that various demands of the workers
and people might be met easily (Lent, 2018). Also, urbanization had occurred nearly the water
bodies that allowed easy transportation of goods and services. Moreover, due to urbanization
better facilities of housing were developed, towns and education centres were introduced and
better healthcare facilities were developed for health and safety of people. However,
disadvantage of such changes was that there was negative impact on physical and psychological
conditions of workers quality of life that created other major problems on the society growth.
Further, more amount of funds was required in the correcting the mental health profiles and
hence to the deficiency of money people were not able to have the access to better health care
services.
Also, social well-being was disturbed as there was major increase in the stress, crime and
psychological disorders among the people as less efficient and unskilled people were forced to
involve in illegal activities. Moreover, there were high levels of pollution and waste in the
country due to which people were not able to live healthy lifestyle (Kramer and Kramer, 2020).
Furthermore, industrialization has resulted in wider gap between the rich and poor as there was
improper division of capital and labour in the country. Furthermore, people have lost their
individuality due to carrying out the repetitive tasks on the daily basis and also this has created

greater amount of job dissatisfaction and feeling of alienation. Also, long working hours among
the employees have led to poor nutrition, degradation in quality life and increased in number of
diseases. Thus, both urbanization and industrialization has brought its own merits and demerits
that have to faced by all diverse group of people of any country.
Hence, life of worker in history might be better explained in way that labour was found in
abundance in earlier days but only limited opportunities were being made available due to which
people were finding hard to move into the cities due to lack of houses and resources (Mair,
Druckman and Jackson, 2020). Moreover, life was tough for these individuals as villages were
left with no growth option due to increase in urbanization and hence people were forced to
accept whatever the city gives. Furthermore, it could again be better linked with Marxism theory
where the wider gap in the rich and workers class gives no right to any poor individual to take
action against those who are in power and thus they were forced to work in whatever condition
and wages was given to them.
Also, if such situation continues to persist for longer time period than there are higher
chances that these people are being are not valued and are forced to move back to their
respective places. However, there are various changes in the current working practices of
business in comparison to the earlier times as now people are more valued and respected on the
total amount of work that is been given (Del Boca and et.al., 2020). For example: Any
organization that is working on top-level now also allows the individuals to work in organization
that has little or no experience through providing proper training programs so that certain skills
might be developed to carry out specific tasks. Another example is various incentive and reward
programs that encourages employees to perform more well at the workplaces.
Major reasons of changes in working practices is due to development of markets and
expansion of the companies in global areas due to digitalization. Also, because people love to
consume variety of goods there were rises in the global trade and business. Moreover, changes
in business practices was also due to business theories given by Fredrick Taylor such as
scientific management principles that has allowed the business to be conducted in smooth
manner. Furthermore, there are various theories in relation to the sociological such as
functionalism and conflict theory (Itakura and et.al., 2018). Moreover, functionalism theory
states that all aspects of society such as institutions, norms and roles are part of the society that
need to be functioned together so that better results and outputs might be generated. Also, this

ensures that proper consistency is assured using various methods. For example: Government of
any country providing education for children of the family. Also, based on this theory all the
systems create positive impact on the society as they all work together for the growth of the
company. On the other hand is the conflict theory states that in any society there are chances of
conflicts due to limited resources and unlimited needs of the public. Moreover, according to this
theory social order in the country is maintained through power and domination where one party
place dominance on others.
Thus, it creates the feeling of disappointment among those people that are working hard
of growth of any firm. Also, it creates certain inequality among the group of people that are
wants to improve the standards of living. Thus, it can be said that this theory exist when the
people have unequal roles (Ruby and Scholz, 2018). Moreover, work is the basic for
sustainability of people and those individuals who do not have any kind of work are usually
stressed and suppressed by others. Also, People having the work live more happy life than in
comparison to those that are not having because they have the constant pressure of
accomplishing certain goals to achieve something in the future. Moreover, worklessness also
creates feeling of disappointment among those people that are capable and having required
amount of knowledge but still unable to accomplish due to practical experiences.
Thus, worklessness limit's the people to live high standards of life and people who work
are motivated to work for longer time period in against of some kind of rewards. Further, this
could be linked to Maslow motivation theory that states that people are motivated through
needs that are classified under five levels such as physiological, safety, love and belonging,
esteem and self actualization needs (Jebb and et.al., 2020). Thus, after completion of each level
of need the consumer wish to move to higher level and so all organizations need to analyse the
employees needs through this theory so that they remain motivated for the work. For example:
Rewarding employee for delivering extra ordinary performance on completion of challenging
tasks.
In context of British society it can be said that working class of people are defined
through wealth, education and occupation. Moreover, in broader concept it can be said that it is
based on various socio-economic factors such as purchasing power, religion, population,
lifestyle and much more. Moreover, people that are highly qualified and have high level of
income are often considered as wealthy class in against of those that are struggling to work

harder for gaining success in any firm. Moreover, it can be said that all these changes in the
society had been brought through globalization that is defined as growing interdependence of
economies due to continuous trade and exchanges of goods and services across various regions.
Furthermore, with growing increase in global trade working practices and people consumption of
goods had been changed to vast extent (Estlund, 2018). Also, there are changes in economies,
technology had been upgraded, digitalization has been increased in form of online transactions
and much more.
Further, in UK there is employment rights act 1966 that provides all rights to the
workers against unfair wages contract, suspension of work, termination of employment etc.
(Employment right act 1966, 2021) Moreover, according to this act people are protected on
health and safety grounds while working in any firm. Another one is Equality act 2010 that
describes that it unlawful for any owner of firm in UK to discriminate employees of the basis of
either gender, age, marriage, race, religion, belief etc. that distinguish one people from another.
Thus, such changes and acts ensures in today's working culture that all people are satisfied while
working in the complex business environment.
Moreover, it can be said that environment is totally changed in current era as women are
equally allowed to work and earn in any firm in comparison to men (Diemert and Jager, 2021).
Also, now the after pandemic firms are providing more flexible working hours and shifts to
provide ease in the work. Moreover, working pattern of the firm are also changed as there are
many small firms that provides part-time works and shifts to those people who are unable to
work on full time basis due to any personal problems of issues. Thus, working nowadays in UK
in comparison to earlier times have become easier and fun-doing.
However, working class people often at workplace are defined through certain socio-
economic factors because of which many people remain at power or place their opinions on
others. Moreover, it could be linked to Davis and Moore theory that states that if functional
importance of any social rule is greater than rewards would also be high. Also, it states that
education systems in society select only talented people so that most important roles in the
society might be allocated to them in the future (Aithal and Aithal, 2019). Moreover, it links that
rewarding the work of people only motivates them to achieve higher goals in the future.
However, in spite of diverse group of people in any society it is group effort that helps country to
grow. Moreover, similar concept was proposed under Durkheim theory that believes society

exerted powerful force on all individuals. Hence, because of people norms, beliefs and values
better understanding and behaving in different world is done. Moreover, in context of education
it can be said that people tend to do what others are doing in context of the norms of the society.
However, the current political system in education has been totally changed and now people tend
to gain the power on the basis of their individual talent, achievement and effort rather than the
wealth or social class of group they belong. Thus, this has created more opportunities for the
students to show their skills and competencies to ensure growth in the future irrespective of
current position they are.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that work is important for all individuals to
live the basic standards of life. Also, the report had clearly explained the history of work before
and during the industrial revolution that changes many lives. Moreover, both positive and
negative impact of urbanizations had been covered under this report in detail. Also, certain
reasons for changes in working practices along with impact of work in society is explained
through functionalism and conflict theories. Furthermore, analysis and impact of working and
non-working people on society had been presented through various examples and theories. Also,
the study had analysed impact of globalization on society in terms of socio-economic factors
along with linking it to various theories. Lastly, current situations of society had been analysed
through discussing two acts along with identifying impacts on women living in different
societies.

REFERENCES
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Estlund, C., 2018. What should we do after work? Automation and employment law. The Yale
Law Journal. pp.254-326.
Herbert, I. P. and et.al., 2021. Does the changing world of professional work need a new
approach to accounting education?. Accounting Education. 30(2). pp.188-212.
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Fourth Industrial Revolution. Journal of Classical Sociology. 19(1). pp.59-71.
Itakura, A. and et.al., 2018. Impact of chronic urticaria on quality of life and work in Japan:
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occupational status, work from home, and occupational mobility. Journal of Vocational
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Lent, R. W., 2018. Future of work in the digital world: Preparing for instability and
opportunity. The Career Development Quarterly. 66(3). pp.205-219.
Mair, S., Druckman, A. and Jackson, T., 2020. A tale of two utopias: Work in a post-growth
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Ruby, S. and Scholz, S., 2018. Care, care work and the struggle for a careful world from the
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Online
Employment right act 1966. 2021. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/legal/legislation/uk-parliament-acts/employment-
rights-act-1996-c18>.