Divisions of labour and hierarchy

Abstract

There has been a revival of interest in the organisation of work across the social sciences. This has come about more or less independently within organisational economics, radical and Marxian political economy, industrial sociology, and economic history, so the potential for interdisciplinary debate has yet to be realised. If it is remembered that work organisation was central to the classical political economy of Adam Smith, and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, then a contemporary discussion of divisions of labour and hierarchy in work organisations needs to start with an explanation for the demise of earlier interest.