ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the ship structure with that of industrial factories in the light of sociological investigations. It focuses on the Norwegian oil tanker, because it presents an extreme situation which highlights the differences between the ship and other places of work. The most obvious difference between the ship and the industrial plant is that the seaman lives at his place of work among his colleagues and superiors, and that he spends most of his leisure at the same place. The ship is a “total institution,” in significant respects comparable to the hospital, the army camp, the prison, the cloister, and boarding schools. The fact that the seaman lives and spends his leisure time on board a ship has a number of important consequences. His social contacts consist of the same people to whom he has a certain clearly defined work relationship.
