Becker Meets Braverman. (November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Roy, William G.
• Is Part Of: Work and occupations. Volume 42:Number 4(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 395
• Page End: 407
• Publication Date: 2015-11
• Subjects: music -- work -- alienation -- skill -- artisanship -- relational sociology -- culture; Occupations -- Periodicals; Professions -- Periodicals; 306.36
• DOI: 10.1177/0730888415597879
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0730-8884

Abstract

What are the potentials and limits of culture (in the sense of arts) to mitigate the alienation of manual work? How are these potentials and limits different in contrasting modes of production? Dudley's Guitar Makers epitomizes not only Becker's insistence that the art objects help explain how art operates but also Braverman's focus on the labor process in the social relations around the production of fine acoustic guitars. Korczynski's Songs of the Factory crosses the Becker/Braverman bridge from the other side, demonstrating how the workers at a blinds-making plant created a culture of sustenance and resistance through song and humor. The two books together reveal how music affords opportunities for mitigating alienation. A relational perspective is applied to conceptualize the social nature of music and work.