We explain what work is, its types and why child labor and slave labor are prohibited. Also, what is social work?
What is work?
Broadly speaking, working is investing an amount of effort in achieving a objective proposed, which is considered fair, beneficial or productive by human standards. The effort invested can be physical, intellectual or of any other kind.
Work is at the heart of our societies, and defines the way in which we contribute to it, and at the same time the resources with which it rewards us and that allow us to survive. That is why the vast majority of population The world has some type of job, and those who do not have one (the unemployed) generally see their standard of living diminished.
In this sense, work is defined by the trade and the profession, that is, to the specific occupation (welder, teacher, mechanic, mayor, doctor, etc.) and to formal preparation for work (refrigeration technician, graduate in physics, general practitioner, doctor in political science, etc.). There are as many forms of work, as perspectives from which to think about it: economic, philosophical, sociological, cultural, etc.
In fact, the word "work" comes from Latin tripallium, name given to an instrument similar to a stocks, with which horses and oxen were held in order to be able to shoe them properly. However, the same instrument could be used to punish prisoners and slaves, in ancient times, so that over time the word tripalliare It was associated both with the idea of work and effort, and with that of torture or torment.
Perhaps that is why the philosophical nature of work has been the subject of debate since ancient times. Their distribution has often been the result of the socio-political organization of societies, in which a distinction was often made between physical work, typical of slaves and animals, and intellectual work, typical of persons privileged and with access to education.
These considerations are present even in texts such as the Bible, in which work constitutes the punishment that God imposes on Adam, after he ate the forbidden fruit ("you will earn your bread with the sweat of your brow").
Kinds of work
There are many, many ways to classify work, depending on the perspective used. In most cases, a distinction is made between jobs that require a certain level of preparation and those that can be done by anyone, or between those that involve specific and indispensable conditions for their completion, and those that do not. Let's look at each category individually:
- Handwork. As its name indicates, it is performed with the hands, that is, with instruments that require our body strength to activate or handle them, and therefore deserve a physical effort. This type of work is the oldest known and before the Industrial Revolution was the most predominant in the humanity. Examples of this are masonry work, broad brush painting, planting and harvesting, etc.
- Intellectual work. It is one that does not require physical effort, but demands mental or intellectual capacities, that is, cognitive skills. An example of this is the work of an architect, a proofreader or a politician.
- Skilled work or professional. It is that job that requires prior preparation to be able to perform it fully, that is, that needs an educational training or certain knowledge specialized, so not everyone can do it. An example of this is the work of a surgeon, a civil engineer or an electrician.
- Unskilled or unprofessional work. Unlike the previous one, it is work that does not require prior qualifications, that is, studies or preparation, but can be performed by anyone who follows the instructions given. For this reason, it is usually less paid than skilled work. An example of this is the work of a worker, a waiter or a watchman.
- Artesanal job. This is the name given to those tasks that are transmitted from generation to generation and that are carried out in domestic workshops, with little use of sophisticated instruments, and that produce unique objects, on a low scale, each one different from the previous one. This is the case of indigenous textiles in certain rural populations Latin American, or the crafts that are sold to tourists in many towns around the world.
- I work as employees. It refers to those works that are part of an official infrastructure, that is, that are carried out within a organization formal, like a business or own Condition, and that therefore they respond to a fixed position in an established hierarchy. Examples of this are bank tellers, company analysts or public officials.
- Independent work. In this case, work is carried out through the free exercise of the profession, that is, offering the job to the highest bidder and without the worker entering the fixed structure of an organization, but instead performing the work, being paid, and continuing. their way. An example of this is the autonomous work of a plumber, a psychologist or a lawyer.
- Casual work. It is a job that is neither permanent nor stable, but it is recurring, as is the case with seasonal workers hired on certain plantations to work only during the harvest.
- Formal or registered work. This category includes all types of work that are within the provisions of the law, that is, that they are administered in accordance with the legal provisions and in which the State has full interference. It is known as a “blank” job.
- Informal work. On the contrary, informal work is all that which is not governed by legal regulations, or only by some of them, and which is invisible to the State, since it occurs clandestinely. It is known as “black work”.
- Individual work. The one that must be carried out by a single person, who is in charge of all decisions.
- Teamwork. On the contrary, it is one that is carried out among several workers, who must to coordinate your efforts to operate efficiently.
- Face-to-face work. They are so named because the worker must be physically present at their workplace, such as factory workers or a mechanic in their auto shop.
- Remote work or telecommuting. They are distinguished from previous jobs in that they can be performed remotely, through different communication methods, especially those that TIC facilitate at the beginning of the 21st century. For example, professional advice, psychological consultations or journalistic interviews.
- Volunteer or volunteer work. In this case, we refer to tasks that are carried out for free, out of the purest conviction of a noble cause, that is, for the pure joy of helping to make the world a better place. Many NGOs and nonprofit foundations depend on this type of work.
Slave labor
When we speak of slave labor today, we are not referring, unfortunately, to the slaves of the great empires of seniority, but to current workers who are in precarious and coerced conditions, that is, they are exploited against their will and in inhumane conditions, earning far less than they should or not earning at all. That is, they work as if they were slaves.
This type of work is illegal in almost all laws of the world, which does not prevent clandestine workshops of textile or artisan production from being discovered from time to time, in which illegal immigrants or other people in extreme socioeconomic situation vulnerability are unscrupulously exploited by citizens who want to profit quickly, taking advantage of a workforce almost free.
Child labor
Child labor, also called child exploitation or child slavery, refers to the employment of children or adolescents below the official working age, for economic work of any kind. Affects the developing Y increase normal for children, since this work prevents them from enjoying their school time and the social protection status that their early age grants them.
Unfortunately, child labor is a reality in many parts of the world. In some places, simply because the socioeconomic need is pressing and young people join family tasks at a very early age, either in their free time or sacrificing their school education.
In other, more sinister cases, children are exploited by adults who take advantage of their innocence, weakness or need, thus forming child labor networks that are widely persecuted by the authorities of most countries in the world.
Social work
Social work is known as a profession and a social science that are dedicated to promoting the development, liberation and strengthening of communities, that is, to promote social change to improve people's living standards.
It includes work to facilitate collective organization, social and psychological counseling, mediation between groups in conflict and other tasks related to the social justice, the human rights and the responsibility of society to those less fortunate.
Social work is a discipline of utmost importance to achieve social peace and to build bridges between the different social classes and the State, or organizations that can promote the fight against poverty, marginality and discrimination.
Academic work
When we talk about an academic work, we are actually referring to a type of school document, monographic or essay type, which is delivered as part of an academic course so that the learning obtained. That is, it is a text that addresses a specific topic and that is written according to very clearly established norms, in a language cultured and specialized.
Examples of academic works are graduate theses, university promotion projects, articles and papers subjected to specialized magazines, or even the essays with which university professors evaluate the learning of their undergraduate students.
Work in physics
It exists in the physical a concept of work that has little or nothing to do with what has been established so far, and that is defined as the Energy necessary for a given force to move a body in its own direction. In other words, there is no work without energy, since work itself is a transit of energy, a transformation from one type of energy to another.
Work is a magnitude scalar, product of force constant applied to the object and its resulting displacement, expressed in units of energy: joules or joules (J), according to International System of Units. In addition, it is expressed symbolically with the letter W (from Work, in English).