Change and Development in Industrial Society — Work, Workers and the Organised Sector

Industrialisation promised a new kind of society: factories, cities, wages, unions and the chance to escape the hierarchies of the village. This chapter asks what industrial work has actually meant for Indian workers. It begins with classic images of industrial society — above all Marx's idea of alienation — and then examines the structure of Indian industry, in which a small, protected organised sector sits beside a vast unorganised one. It looks at how people find jobs, how work is organised and controlled, the conditions in mines and in home-based work, and the role of strikes and unions, using the Bombay textile strike of 1982 as the book's case.

Images of Industrial Society and Industrialisation in India

Industrial production rests on an extreme division of labour: work is broken into many small tasks, each performed repeatedly by different workers, so that few of them ever see the finished product. Karl Marx argued that under capitalism this produces alienation — workers do not enjoy their work, have no control over how it is done or what is produced, and are estranged from the product of their own labour, which belongs to the owner. Industrial society also promised equality and freedom from the ascribed identities of the village; sociologists ask how far this has been true, since new hierarchies of skill, wages and security have appeared.

Modern industry in India began under colonial rule with the cotton mills of Bombay and Ahmedabad, the jute mills around Calcutta, coal mines and the railways. After independence the state led industrialisation through a large public sector. The most important distinction the book draws is between the organised (formal) sector — which it defines as all units employing ten or more people throughout the year, registered with the government so that employees receive regulated wages, benefits such as pensions, and job security — and the unorganised (informal) sector, which covers agriculture, small workshops, home-based work, self-employment and casual labour. The book stresses that only a small minority of Indian workers are in the organised sector; for most, secure formal employment remains out of reach.

Since the 1990s, liberalisation has changed this landscape. The government has pursued disinvestment — selling its shares in public sector companies — and many firms have turned to outsourcing and to contract and casual labour in place of permanent employees, often through voluntary retirement schemes. The result has been more flexibility for employers and less security for workers, as more work moves from the organised to the unorganised side of the divide.

How People Find Work and How Work Is Organised

  • Personal contacts: many jobs are found through relatives, caste members and people from the same village or region, so social networks shape the labour market.
  • The jobber: in the early textile mills, a jobber — himself an older worker — recruited new workers, often from his own village or region, helped them find housing in the city, and in return expected their loyalty and a share of their earnings.
  • Badli workers: substitute workers who filled in for permanent workers who were absent or on leave, without the security of a permanent post.
  • Contractors: in construction, brick kilns and other casual work, labour contractors recruit workers, often advancing them money that binds them to the contractor until it is repaid.

How work is organised inside the factory has also changed. Frederick Winslow Taylor devised "scientific management", in which each job is broken down into its smallest repetitive parts, each movement is timed and standardised, and workers are closely supervised to raise output; the moving assembly line extended this control. The American scholar Harry Braverman argued that the use of machinery and such methods actually deskills workers: knowledge and judgement are transferred from the worker to the machine and to management, leaving workers with simple, repetitive tasks and less control over their work.

Working Conditions, Strikes and Unions

Working conditions vary sharply between sectors. Work in mines, especially underground, is dangerous — workers face flooding, fire, the collapse of roofs and the effects of dust and gases. The Mines Act, 1952 lays down the maximum hours of work, the payment of overtime and safety rules, but enforcement is uneven, and contract workers in smaller mines often fall outside its protection. Home-based work — rolling bidis, making agarbattis and papads, embroidery and similar tasks — is a large part of the unorganised sector; it is usually paid by the piece, and much of it is done by women and children within the household, with no regulation of hours or rates.

Workers have organised to improve their conditions through trade unions. In a strike, workers collectively refuse to work; in a lock-out, the management shuts the workplace and keeps workers out. The book's case is the Bombay textile strike of 1982, led by the trade union leader Dr Datta Samant, in which a very large number of mill workers stayed out for nearly two years, demanding better wages and the right to form their own union. The strike ended without the workers winning their demands; many mills closed in the years that followed, and many workers returned to their villages or moved into casual and unorganised work. The episode illustrates both the power of collective action and the vulnerability of workers as industry restructures.

⚠️ Strike or lock-out — who shuts the gate?
In a strike the workers withdraw their labour; in a lock-out the employer closes the workplace. Statement questions swap the two definitions, so fix them by asking who takes the action.

Key takeaways

  • For Marx, the division of labour under capitalism produces alienation: workers neither enjoy nor control their work or its product.
  • The organised sector covers units employing ten or more people throughout the year, registered with the government; only a small minority of Indian workers are in it.
  • Liberalisation brought disinvestment, outsourcing and more contract labour, reducing job security.
  • Jobs are found through contacts, jobbers and contractors; badli workers substituted for absent permanent workers.
  • Taylor's scientific management broke work into timed repetitive tasks; Braverman argued that machinery deskills workers.
  • The Mines Act, 1952 regulates hours and safety in mines; home-based work is piece-rated and largely unregulated.
  • The Bombay textile strike of 1982, led by Datta Samant, lasted nearly two years and ended without the workers winning; many mills later closed.

Practice questions (8)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

  1. As defined in the book, the organised or formal sector consists of units that:

    1. Employ at least one hundred workers
    2. Are owned only by the government
    3. Pay workers by the piece for work done at home
    4. Employ ten or more people throughout the year and are registered
    Show answer

    Answer: D — Employ ten or more people throughout the year and are registered

    The book defines the organised sector as all units employing ten or more people throughout the year, registered with the government so that workers receive regulated wages, benefits and security. It includes private firms as well as public ones, so "owned only by the government" is wrong; piece-rated home-based work is a typical part of the unorganised sector.

  2. "Scientific management", in which each job is broken into small, timed and repetitive tasks under close supervision, is associated with:

    1. Frederick Winslow Taylor
    2. Karl Marx
    3. Harry Braverman
    4. Datta Samant
    Show answer

    Answer: A — Frederick Winslow Taylor

    Frederick Winslow Taylor devised scientific management, timing and standardising each movement to raise output. Harry Braverman is the trap because he wrote about such methods — but as a critic, arguing that they deskill workers. Marx analysed alienation under capitalism, and Datta Samant led the 1982 Bombay textile strike.

  3. The Bombay textile strike of 1982, which lasted nearly two years, was led by:

    1. George Fernandes
    2. N. M. Joshi
    3. Datta Samant
    4. V. V. Giri
    Show answer

    Answer: C — Datta Samant

    The trade union leader Dr Datta Samant led the 1982 strike, in which mill workers demanded better wages and the right to their own union; it ended without victory and many mills later closed. George Fernandes is the plausible trap, as a well-known labour leader associated with a different strike, the railway strike of 1974.

  4. For Karl Marx, "alienation" in industrial work under capitalism means that workers:

    1. Migrate from villages to cities in search of work
    2. Neither enjoy their work nor control its process or product
    3. Form trade unions to bargain with employers
    4. Are paid more than agricultural labourers
    Show answer

    Answer: B — Neither enjoy their work nor control its process or product

    Alienation describes workers' estrangement from their labour: they do not enjoy the work, do not control how it is done, and do not own what they produce, which belongs to the capitalist. Migration to cities is a literal reading of being "alienated" from one's home, and it is the trap; forming unions is a response to the conditions Marx described, not the concept itself.

  5. In the textile mills discussed in the book, a "badli" worker was:

    1. The jobber who recruited workers from his own village
    2. A substitute filling in for absent permanent workers
    3. A trade union leader elected by the workers of a single mill
    4. A manager trained in scientific management
    Show answer

    Answer: B — A substitute filling in for absent permanent workers

    Badli workers were substitutes who replaced permanent workers on leave or absent, without the security of a permanent post. The jobber is the trap because he belongs to the same story of mill recruitment, but he was the older worker who recruited newcomers and expected their loyalty — a different role altogether.

  6. Harry Braverman argued that the use of machinery and methods such as scientific management in modern industry:

    1. Steadily raises the skills of every worker
    2. Abolishes the division of labour
    3. Gives workers full control over the pace of production
    4. Deskills workers and reduces their control
    Show answer

    Answer: D — Deskills workers and reduces their control

    Braverman argued that knowledge and judgement are transferred from workers to machines and management, leaving workers with simpler, repetitive tasks — deskilling. The idea that machinery steadily raises every worker's skills is the optimistic view he was arguing against, which makes it the trap. Scientific management deepens, rather than abolishes, the division of labour.

  7. Assertion (A): Most Indian workers are employed in the unorganised sector. Reason (R): The unorganised sector provides workers with regulated wages, pensions and job security.

    1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
    2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
    3. A is true, but R is false
    4. A is false, but R is true
    Show answer

    Answer: C — A is true, but R is false

    The book stresses that only a small minority of workers are in the organised sector, so A is true. R describes the organised sector, not the unorganised one: regulated wages, pensions and security are exactly what most unorganised workers lack. R is therefore false — people work in the unorganised sector because formal jobs are scarce, not because it is secure.

  8. Consider the following statements:
    1. The Mines Act, 1952 lays down the maximum hours of work and safety rules in mines.
    2. A lock-out is a situation in which workers collectively refuse to work.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    1. 1 only
    2. 2 only
    3. Both 1 and 2
    4. Neither 1 nor 2
    Show answer

    Answer: A — 1 only

    The Mines Act, 1952 regulates hours of work, overtime and safety in mines, so statement 1 is correct. Statement 2 defines a strike, not a lock-out: in a lock-out the management closes the workplace and keeps workers out. Swapping the two is the error being tested.