COfING WITH DEGRADING WORK : A Study of Mehtars in Hyderabad City

Abstract

Though the debate on the concept of wor" is not a ne\\ phenomenon. it received great impetus during industrial revolution, with the analysis of labour, mar"et and related aspects. Generally, the notion of wor" is analyzed in terms of 'paid employment' or 'economically convertable, social or technical labour' . And some times, the broader level analyses are made using time, space. yalue, production, and simi lar units. But of late, particularly with the study of non-western societies by the western scholars. emerged certain models in analysing the traditional cultures, which lead to the understanding the occupation in relation to its social construct, while economic rationale remained as an important aspect. Particularly from these models, a greater understanding of work, and its embeddedness in a variety of structures from which it takes its organization and meaning was made possible. Though these aspects surface in western societ) also. religion, kinship, politics and family play important role in traditional societies In \\estern societies work is al\lays seen as ' a discrete activit)' in a di stmct economic realm' "We may 100" to the late eighteenth century for this separation out of the 'economic': ~et. working in comple:>.. ways .... Cultural connectedness of \lork in the west too, there has been the transformation of words investing \I or" from connotations of pam and degradation to words denoting dignity and transformation of nature and man's being These major transfornlations point to the need for an histori cal Anthropolog~ or an Anthropological histof) ofwork."(Joyce Patrickl987 2)