ABSTRACT
The idea of corporate culture emerges from organizational sociology, which itself is an outgrowth of the main historical roots of that field in the work of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. The idea that corporations shape character has circulated in social science since the 1950s, when the concept of the organization man was current. Organizational culture extends across cultures, and distinct national differences in corporate styles emerge in interaction with regional and national cultural characteristics. At the level of work itself rather than its larger social organization, the individual again emerges. Older generations may still remember when a job in the United States promised support for a long time, often a lifetime. To get at the culture of individual professions, choose one that is accessible and concrete: plumbing, for example.
