· 2023· Book chapter
The Division of Labour in Society
- 1,252citations
- 2023year
Short summary
Societies only recently became aware of the division of labor, a concept first theorized by Adam Smith, which has become increasingly widespread and powerful.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Societies' awareness of the division of labor emerged late in the last century.
- Adam Smith was the first to theorize and name the division of labor.
- The phenomenon is now widespread, involving large-scale power and capital.
- Specialization extends from individual jobs to entire product ecosystems.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Although the division of labour is not of recent origin, it was only at the end of the last century that societies began to become aware of this law, to which up to then they had submitted almost unwittingly. Undoubtedly even from antiquity several thinkers had perceived its importance.1 Yet Adam Smith was the first to attempt to elaborate the theory of it. Moreover, it was he who first coined the term, which social science later lent to biology. Nowadays the phenomenon has become so widespread that it catches everyone’s attention. It involves increasingly powerful mechanisms, large-scale groupings of power and capital, and consequently an extreme division of labour. Inside factories, not only are jobs demarcated, becoming extremely specialised, but each product is itself a speciality entailing the existence of others.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source., 2023 · DOI ↗
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Field: Public Administration
Public AdministrationSocial Sciences