Anthropology of Work

3 credit hours · Undergraduate

Anthropologists have long been interested in work as an aspect of economy (that is, how productive tasks get accomplished), as a determiner of general social structure (that is, a core institution), and as a theme in the ethos of various societies (that is, work as an ethic). As anthropologists turn their attention to industrial societies (and as other disciplines adopt ethno-geographic methods), the workplace is often treated as were small communities in the past. Special attention is given to methods of data collection in workplaces in complex societies. There will also be an examination of the application of these techniques by scholars, development agencies, commercial enterprises, and political movements.