Autonomy and Negotiation in an Industrial Setting

The sociology of work has continued to interest itself in behavior which appears to depart from what might be expected. Recognizing the difficulties involved in the use of the older term "informal behavior," the paper examines two concepts which have been developed in order to analyze these practices: Katz's notion of autonomy and the concept of negotiation developed by Strauss and his associates. The potential usefulness of these concepts taken together is examined in relation to two everyday features of life in an electrical components workshop: the continued argument about when radios should be turned on or off and the larger issue of the negotiation of time.