Are there class differences at work? The case of a Norwegian oil-service company

Abstract

Recently, many have requested new approaches to class and work. The reason for this request is the fact that new class approaches to cultural differences do not consider work relations. This article will investigate if it is meaningful to talk about class differences in today’s work life. Based on a culture- and work-condition survey conducted in a Norwegian oil-service company, the article utilize Bourdieu’s main concepts in order to study how class can be regarded as a multidimensional phenomenon. When analyzing information about education, eco- nomical capital and work setting, the analysis reveals three main dimensions of class differences in the company. The analysis further discovers cleavages in work relations and in attitudes towards the organization and their superiors that follow these dimensions. The first axis is a total volume of capital axis. The second axis is an economic axis. And the third axis is a manual/non-manual work axis. Those with high total volume of capital have varied and interesting jobs, but less autonomy, and those with low total volume have standardized work tasks, but more autonomy. Those with high economic capital have more influence than those with low economic capital, and finally, those with manual jobs seem to perceive themselves as outsiders. It thus seems meaningful to talk about class differences at work, both in relation to differences in work conditions and in relation to differences in the employee’s “sense of one’s place”. In sum one may say that there is a close connection between having favorable positions in the company’s class structures and having more developing and interesting jobs, and the correct work attitudes. However, autonomy seems to be a work environment factor following new lines of divisions. As class differences appears as distributions of favorable work conditions and as perceptions if belongingness, the conclusion is that class divisions are of persisting relevance in today work life.