Manual labour

<h2 id="relationship-between-low-skill-and-low-social-class">Relationship between low skill and low social class</h2>
<p>There is a strong <a href="/facts/Correlation/egkluAEm">correlation</a> between manual labour and unskilled or semiskilled workers, despite the fact that nearly any work can potentially have skill and intelligence applied to it (for example, the <a href="/facts/Artisan/XNzAT1ua">artisanal</a> skill of <a href="/facts/Craft_production/gXpE7d6G">craft production</a>, or the logic of <a href="/facts/Applied_science/13h5uYCH">applied science</a>). It has always been the case for humans that many workers begin their working lives lacking any special level of skill or experience. (In the past two centuries, education has become more important and more widely disseminated; but even today, not everyone can know everything, or have experience in a great number of occupations.) It has also always been the case that there was a large amount of manual labour to be done; and that much of it was simple enough to be successfully (if not masterfully) done by unskilled or semiskilled workers, which has meant that there have always been plenty of people with the potential to do it. These conditions have assured the correlation's strength and persistence.
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<p> Throughout human prehistory and history, wherever <a href="/facts/Social_class/gJbHDVNc">social class systems</a> have developed, the social status of manual <a href="/facts/Labourers/MwFhKj2S">labourers</a> has, more often than not, been low, as most physical tasks were done by <a href="/facts/Peasant/LpXfJ1HH">peasants</a>, <a href="/facts/Serfdom/HyajBMeR">serfs</a>, <a href="/facts/Slavery/IXX2S92u">slaves</a>, <a href="/facts/Indentured_servant/M6Xac7fV">indentured servants</a>, <a href="/facts/Wage_slavery/nEQAyMGX">wage slaves</a>, or <a href="/facts/Domestic_worker/Ku8pwLDH">domestic servants</a>. For example, legal scholar L. Ali Khan analyses how the <a href="/facts/Greek_people/wXwd2xlb">Greeks</a>, <a href="/facts/Hindus/8pBQgghs">Hindus</a>, <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a>, and <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">Americans</a> all created sophisticated social structures to outsource manual labour to distinct classes, <a href="/facts/Caste/J2qr75PV">castes</a>, <a href="/facts/Ethnic_group/XSp5l24t">ethnicities</a>, or <a href="/facts/Race_(classification_of_humans)/cDPnrdXn">races</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Construction_worker/Hqt4n98w">Construction worker</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Critique_of_work/zuRMMlGn">Critique of work</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Day_labor/xA7ybG95">Day labor</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Elbow_grease/Ht02E6CN">Elbow grease</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Industrialisation/h3QXzS6C">Industrialisation</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Manual_labor_college/tXbDEm0z">Manual labor college</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Proletariat/pekPRsQd">Proletariat</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Refusal_of_work/mqTcz2GG">Refusal of work</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Roughneck/n0Q3Ht4X">Roughneck</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Shadow_work/B1YeBTyz">Shadow work</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/The_Idler_(1993)/8JoIFzLl"><i>The Idler</i> (1993)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/The_South_African_Wine_Initiative/axvHC59D">The South African Wine Initiative</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Henry_Ford/BnDDXRrs">Ford, Henry</a>; <a href="/facts/Samuel_Crowther_(journalist)/eIlQ0r9y">Crowther, Samuel</a> (1922), <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7213/pg7213.html"><i>My Life and Work</i></a>, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc. Various republications, including <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 9781406500189. Original is public domain in U.S. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4K82efXzn10C&pg=PP13#v=onepage&f=false">Also available at Google Books</a>.</li>
<li>Khan, Ali (2006-10-12) [2001], "The dignity of manual labor", <i>Columbia Human Rights Law Review</i>, Social Science Research Network, <a href="/facts/SSRN_(identifier)/njd3WRzR">SSRN</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=936890">936890</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor/cLfxAVbq">Taylor, Frederick Winslow</a> (1911), <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HoJMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3"><i>The Principles of Scientific Management</i></a>, New York, NY, USA and London, UK: Harper & Brothers, <a href="/facts/LCCN_(identifier)/5hb5Cw2V">LCCN</a> <a href="https://lccn.loc.gov/11010339">11010339</a>, <a href="/facts/OCLC_(identifier)/Yqad8waq">OCLC</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/233134">233134</a><i><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/6435">Also available from Project Gutenberg</a>.</i> {{citation}}: External link in |postscript= (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)</li>
<li>Marx, <i>Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1</i>, Penguin Group, p. 1152, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0140445684</li>
<li>Cockshott, <i>Towards a New Socialism</i>, Bertrand Russell Press, p. 209, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0851245455</li>
<li>Mises (2009), <i>Socialism</i>, Liberty Fund, p. 569, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1933550510</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://osha.europa.eu/topics/msds">Musculoskeletal Disorders</a></li>
<li><a href="http://laborfair.com/resources.php">LaborFair Resources</a> (Fair Labor Practices)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Khan 2006. - Khan, Ali (2006-10-12) [2001], "The dignity of manual labor", Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Social Science Research Network, SSRN 936890. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=936890" target="_blank">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=936890</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Manual labour open-in-new

Manual labour