ABSTRACT
One familiar modern assumption posits that those who perform 'white-collar' work are socially superior to those engaged in 'blue-collar' occupations. But the most important resources on which people draw are generally derived from the two great spheres of human experience and identity: work and family. For most adults in most human societies, work is the unavoidable precondition for the economic security to which all aspire. So in order to understand the role of work in the early modern city, the author begins by looking at the overall structure of social organization. In many cities, laborious efforts were undertaken to establish a distinct hierarchy of social ranks. First, in modern societies occupation is normally taken as the chief determinant of social status. Second, as in almost all human societies, rank is normally determined by masculine activity or prestige - for women and children are assumed to share the social status of the adult male head of their family.
