View source for Division of labour

{{Short description|Separation of tasks in any system so that participants may specialise}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{redirects here|Economic specialization|a list of economic specialties|Lists of occupations|branches of the field|Economics}}
[[File:Defrance, Visiting a nail factory (18th c).jpg|thumb|''Visiting a Nail Factory'' by [[Léonard Defrance]] (18th century) ]]{{Economics sidebar|expanded=concepts|sp=uk}}The '''division of labour''' is the separation of the tasks in any [[economic system]] or [[organisation]] so that participants may specialise ([[Departmentalization|specialisation]]). Individuals, organisations, and nations are endowed with or acquire specialised capabilities, and either form combinations or trade to take advantage of the capabilities of others in addition to their own. Specialised capabilities may include equipment or [[natural resource]]s as well as skills. Training and combinations of equipment and other assets acting together are often important.  For example, an individual may specialise by acquiring tools and the skills to use them effectively just as an organisation may specialise by acquiring specialised equipment and hiring or training skilled operators. The division of labour is the motive for [[trade]] and the source of [[economic interdependence]].

[[File:Division of labor cpu and gpu.svg|thumb|Division of labour CPU and GPU]]
An increasing division of labour is associated with the growth of total [[Output (economics)|output]] and [[trade]], the rise of [[capitalism]], and the increasing complexity of [[Industrialisation|industrialised]] processes. The concept and implementation of division of labour has been observed in ancient [[Sumer]]ian ([[Mesopotamia]]n) culture, where assignment of jobs in some cities coincided with an increase in trade and economic interdependence. Division of labour generally also increases both producer and individual worker productivity.

After the [[Neolithic Revolution]], pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food supplies, which increased the population and led to specialisation of labour, including new classes of artisans, warriors, and the development of elites.  This specialisation was furthered by the process of [[industrialisation]], and [[Industrial Revolution]]-era factories. Accordingly, many [[Classical economics|classical economists]] as well as some mechanical engineers, such as [[Charles Babbage]], were proponents of division of labour. Also, having workers perform single or limited tasks eliminated the long training period required to train craftsmen, who were replaced with less-paid but more productive unskilled workers.<ref>
{{cite book
|title=Exploring the Black Box: Technology, economics and history
 |url=https://archive.org/details/exploringblackbo00rose
 |url-access=registration
 |last=Rosenberg
 |first= Nathan
|year=1993 |publisher =Cambridge University Press
|isbn= 0-521-459559|pages=[https://archive.org/details/exploringblackbo00rose/page/25 25], 27–32, 37–8
}}
</ref>

== Pre-modern theories ==

=== Plato ===
In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', the [[Origins of the State|origin of the state]] lies in the natural [[Social inequality|inequality]] of humanity, which is embodied in the division of labour:

{{blockquote|Well then, how will our state supply these needs? It will need a farmer, a builder, and a weaver, and also, I think, a shoemaker and one or two others to provide for our bodily needs. So that the minimum state would consist of four or five men....|title=''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' ([[Penguin Classics]] ed.)|source=p. 103}}

Silvermintz (2010) noted that "Historians of economic thought credit Plato, primarily on account of arguments advanced in his Republic, as an early proponent of the division of labour."<ref name=":0" /> Notwithstanding this, Silvermintz argues that "While Plato recognises both the economic and political benefits of the division of labour, he ultimately critiques this form of economic arrangement insofar as it hinders the individual from ordering his own soul by cultivating acquisitive motives over prudence and reason."<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last=Silvermintz|first=Daniel|title=Plato's Supposed Defense of the Division of Labor: A Reexamination of the Role of Job Specialisation in the Republic|journal=History of Political Economy|year=2010|volume=42|issue=4|pages=747–72|doi=10.1215/00182702-2010-036}}</ref>

=== Xenophon ===
[[Xenophon]], in the 4th century BC, makes a passing reference to division of labour in his ''[[Cyropaedia]]'' (a.k.a. ''Education of Cyrus'').

{{blockquote|Just as the various trades are most highly developed in large cities, in the same way food at the palace is prepared in a far superior manner. In small towns the same man makes couches, doors, ploughs and tables, and often he even builds houses, and still he is thankful if only he can find enough work to support himself. And it is impossible for a man of many trades to do all of them well. In large cities, however, because many make demands on each trade, one alone is enough to support a man, and often less than one: for instance one man makes shoes for men, another for women, there are places even where one man earns a living just by mending shoes, another by cutting them out, another just by sewing the uppers together, while there is another who performs none of these operations but assembles the parts. Of necessity, he who pursues a very specialised task will do it best.<ref>Book VIII, ch, ii, [https://archive.org/details/cyropaediaorins00xenogoog/page/n268 <!-- pg=244 quote=cyropaedia xenophon I"in small towns". --> 4[&#93;-6], cited in ''[[The Ancient Economy (book)|The Ancient Economy]]'' by M. I. Finley. Penguin books 1992, p. 135.</ref>|sign=|source=}}

=== Augustine of Hippo ===
A simile used by [[Augustine of Hippo]] shows that the division of labour was practised and understood in late Imperial Rome. In a brief passage of his ''[[The City of God]]'', Augustine seems to be aware of the role of different social layers in the production of goods, like household ([[Pater familias#Roman familia|''familiae'']]), corporations (''collegia'') and the state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burns |first=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7sb2DwAAQBAJ&dq=augustine+Hippo+%22division+of+labour%22&pg=PA127 |title=Social Institutions and the Politics of Recognition: From the Ancient Greeks to the Reformation |date=2020-07-16 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-78348-880-3 |pages=127 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|…like workmen in the street of the silversmiths, where one vessel, in order that it may go out perfect, passes through the hands of many, when it might have been finished by one perfect workman.  But the only reason why the combined skill of many workmen was thought necessary, was, that it is better that each part of an art should be learned by a special workman, which can be done speedily and easily, than that they should all be compelled to be perfect in one art throughout all its parts, which they could only attain slowly and with difficulty.|title=''The City of God'' (tr. [[Marcus Dods (theologian born 1834)|Marcus Dods]])|source=[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_II/City_of_God/Book_VII/Chapter_4 VII.4]}}

===Medieval Muslim scholars===

The division of labour was discussed by multiple medieval Persian scholars. They considered the division of labour between members of a household, between members of society and between nations. For [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] and [[al-Ghazali]] the division of labour was necessary and useful. The similarity of the examples provided by these scholars with those provided by Adam Smith (such as al-Ghazali's needle factory and Tusi's claim that exchange, and by extension the division of labour, are the consequences of the human reasoning capability and that no animals have been observed to exchange one bone for another) led some scholars to conjecture that Smith was influenced by the medieval Persian scholarship.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Seeking the Roots of Adam Smith's Division of Labor in Medieval Persia |journal=History of Political Economy |date=1998 |volume=30 |issue=4 |page=667-673 |doi=10.1215/00182702-30-4-653 |last1=Hosseini |first1=Hamid }}</ref>

== Modern theories ==

=== William Petty ===
[[File:Sir William Petty.jpg|thumb|Sir William Petty]]
[[File:Petty - Economic writings, 1899 - 5179309.tif|thumb|Petty - Economic Writings, 1899]]

Sir [[William Petty]] was the first modern writer to take note of the division of labour, showing its has worth in existence and usefulness in Dutch [[shipyard]]s. Classically, the workers in a [[shipyard]] would build ships as units, finishing one before starting another. But the Dutch had it organised with several teams each doing the same tasks for successive ships. People with a particular task to do must have discovered new methods that were only later observed and justified by writers on [[political economy]].

Petty also applied the principle to his survey of [[Ireland]]. His breakthrough was to divide up the work so that large parts of it could be done by people with no extensive training.

=== Bernard de Mandeville ===
[[File:The Fable of the Bees, by Bernard Mandeville (title page).jpg|thumb|''Fable of the Bees'' by Bernard Mandeville]]

[[Bernard Mandeville|Bernard de Mandeville]] discussed the matter in the second volume of ''[[The Fable of the Bees]]'' (1714). This elaborates many matters raised by the original poem about a 'Grumbling Hive'. He says:
{{blockquote|But if one will wholly apply himself to the making of Bows and Arrows, whilst another provides Food, a third builds Huts, a fourth makes Garments, and a fifth Utensils, they not only become useful to one another, but the Callings and Employments themselves will in the same Number of Years receive much greater Improvements, than if all had been promiscuously followed by every one of the Five.}}

=== David Hume ===
{{blockquote|When every individual person labors apart, and only for himself, his force is too small to execute any considerable work; his labor being employed in supplying all his different necessities, he never attains a perfection in any particular art; and as his force and success are not at all times equal, the least failure in either of these particulars must be attended with inevitable ruin and misery. Society provides a remedy for these three inconveniences. By the conjunction of forces, our power is augmented: By the partition of employments, our ability increases: And by mutual succor we are less exposed to fortune and accidents. 'Tis by this additional force, ability, and security, that society becomes advantageous.}} - David Hume, [[A Treatise on Human Nature]]

=== Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau ===
[[File:Duhamel.jpg|thumb|[[Facsimile]] of the first page of du Monceau's introduction to ''Art de l'Épinglier'', with "division de ce travail" highlighted]]
In his introduction to ''The Art of the Pin-Maker'' (''Art de l'Épinglier'', 1761),<ref name=":1">[[Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau|du Monceau, Henri-Louis Duhamel]]. 1761. "[[:File:Duhamel.jpg|Introduction]]." In ''Art de l'Épinglier'', by R. Réaumur, and A. de Ferchault. Paris: Saillant et Nyon.</ref> [[Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau]] writes about the "division of this work":<ref name=":1" />

{{blockquote|There is nobody who isn't surprised of the small price of [[pin]]s; but we shall be even more surprised, when we know how many different operations, most of them very delicate, are mandatory to make a good pin. We are going to go through these operations in a few words to stimulate the curiosity to know their detail; this enumeration will supply as many articles which will make the division of this work.… The first operation is to have brass go through the drawing plate to calibrate it.…|title=|source=}}

By "division of this work," du Monceau is referring to the subdivisions of 
the text describing the various trades involved in the pin making activity; this can also be described as a division of labour.

=== Adam Smith ===
[[File:Adam Smith The Muir portrait.jpg|thumb|Adam Smith portrait]]

In the first sentence of ''[[The Wealth of Nations|An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations]]'' (1776), [[Adam Smith]] foresaw the essence of industrialism by determining that division of labour represents a substantial increase in productivity. Like du Monceau, his example was the making of pins.

Unlike [[Plato]], Smith famously argued that the difference between a street porter and a philosopher was as much a consequence of the division of labour as its cause. Therefore, while for Plato the level of specialisation determined by the division of labour was externally determined, for Smith it was the dynamic engine of economic progress. However, in a further chapter of the same book, Smith criticised the division of labour, saying that it makes man "as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become" and that it can lead to "the almost entire corruption and degeneracy of the great body of the people.…unless government takes some pains to prevent it."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTy_yAEACAAJ |title=An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations |date=1976 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-76374-3 |editor-last=Cannan |editor-first=Edwin |edition= |volume= |publication-place=Chicago |pages=ii.302–303 |language=en |quote=In the progress of the division of labour, the employment of the far greater part of those who live by labour, that is, of the great body of people, comes to be confined to a few very simple operations, frequently one or two. But the understandings of the greater part of men are necessarily formed by their ordinary employments. The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects too are, perhaps, always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. |orig-date=1904}}{{Comment|Curiously, this edition's Index carries no reference to this instance of usage of the phrase 'division of labour.'}}</ref> The contradiction has led to some debate over Smith's opinion of the division of labour.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rothbard|first=Murray|title=The Celebrated Adam Smith|url=https://mises.org/page/1430|website=An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought|publisher=Mises Institute|access-date=2012-05-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612015921/http://mises.org/page/1430|archive-date=12 June 2012}}</ref> [[Alexis de Tocqueville]] agreed with Smith: "Nothing tends to materialize man, and to deprive his work of the faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labor."<ref>{{cite book |last= Tocqueville |first= Alexis de |year= 1841 |title= Democracy in America: Volume I |location= New York, NY |publisher= J.&nbsp;& H.&nbsp;G. Langley |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=s0MWjdGhJyoC&pg=PA460&dq=%22nothing+tends+to%22 460] }}</ref> [[Adam Ferguson]] shared similar views to Smith, though was generally more negative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Hill |first= Lisa |year= 2004 |title= Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson and the Division of Labor |url= http://www.adelaide.edu.au/apsa/docs_papers/Others/Hill.pdf |access-date= 1 July 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130728014052/http://www.adelaide.edu.au/apsa/docs_papers/Others/Hill.pdf |archive-date= 28 July 2013 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

The specialisation and concentration of the workers on their single [[subtasks]] often leads to greater skill and greater productivity on their particular subtasks than would be achieved by the same number of workers each carrying out the original broad task, in part due to increased quality of production, but more importantly because of increased efficiency of production, leading to a higher nominal output of units produced per time unit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Rourke |first1=P.J. |title=On the Wealth of Nations |date=2008 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=9781843543893 |url=https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/on-the-wealth-of-nations-3/}}</ref> Smith uses the example of a production capability of an individual pin maker compared to a manufacturing business that employed 10 men:<ref>{{Cite web|title=An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3300/3300-h/3300-h.htm#chap36|access-date=2020-04-22|website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref><blockquote>One man draws out the wire; another straights it; a third cuts it; a fourth points it; a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. I have seen a small manufactory of this kind, where ten men only were employed, and where some of them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But though they were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the necessary machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins in a day. There are in a pound upwards of four thousand pins of a middling size. Those ten persons, therefore, could make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day. Each person, therefore, making a tenth part of forty-eight thousand pins, might be considered as making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day. But if they had all wrought separately and independently, and without any of them having been educated to this peculiar business, they certainly could not each of them have made twenty, perhaps not one pin in a day.</blockquote>Smith saw the importance of matching skills with equipment—usually in the context of an [[organization|organisation]]. For example, pin makers were organised with one making the head, another the body, each using different equipment. Similarly, he emphasised a large number of skills, used in cooperation and with suitable equipment, were required to build a ship.

In modern economic discussion, the term ''[[human capital]]'' would be used. Smith's insight suggests that the huge increases in productivity obtainable from [[technology]] or technological progress are possible because human and physical capital are matched, usually in an organisation. See also a short discussion of Adam Smith's theory in the context of [[Pin Factory|business processes]]. [[Charles Babbage|Babbage]] wrote a seminal work "On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures" analysing perhaps for the first time the division of labour in factories.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rosenberg|first=Nathan|title=Babbage: pioneer economist by Nathan Rosenberg|url=http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/babbage/rosenb.html|access-date=28 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053748/http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/babbage/rosenb.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Immanuel Kant ===
[[File:Immanuel Kant - Gemaelde 1.jpg|thumb|Kant]]

In the ''[[Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals|Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals]]'' (1785), [[Immanuel Kant]] notes the value of the division of labour:<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals by Immanuel Kant - Free Ebook|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5682|access-date=2019-04-25|via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref><blockquote>All crafts, trades and arts have profited from the division of labour; for when each worker sticks to one particular kind of work that needs to be handled differently from all the others, he can do it better and more easily than when one person does everything. Where work is not thus differentiated and divided, where everyone is a jack-of-all-trades, the crafts remain at an utterly primitive level.</blockquote>

=== Karl Marx ===
{{Marxism sidebar|expanded=economics}}
Marx argued that increasing the specialisation may also lead to workers with poorer overall skills and a lack of enthusiasm for their work. He described the process as [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]]: workers become more and more specialised and work becomes repetitive, eventually leading to complete alienation from the process of production. The worker then becomes "depressed spiritually and physically to the condition of a machine."<ref>Marx, Karl. [1844] 1963. "[[Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844|Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844]]." In ''Karl Marx Early Writings'', edited by [[T. B. Bottomore]]. London: [[Charles Albert Watts|C.A. Watts and Co]]. § First Manuscript, p.&nbsp;72.</ref>

Additionally, Marx argued that the division of labour creates less-skilled workers. As the work becomes more specialised, less training is needed for each specific job, and the workforce, overall, is less skilled than if one worker did one job entirely.<ref>Marx, Karl. 1849. "[[Wage Labour and Capital|Wage Labor & Capital]]."</ref>

Among Marx's theoretical contributions is his sharp distinction between the economic and the [[social division of labour]].<ref>[[Marx, Karl]]. [1867] 1977. ''[[Capital, Volume I|Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1]].'' New York: [[Vintage Books]]. pp. 781–94.</ref> That is, some forms of labour co-operation are purely due to "technical necessity", but others are a result of a "social control" function related to a class and status hierarchy. If these two divisions are conflated, it might appear as though the existing division of labour is technically inevitable and immutable, rather than (in good part) socially constructed and influenced by [[Power (sociology)|power]] relationships. He also argues that in a [[communism|communist]] society, the division of labour is transcended, meaning that balanced human development occurs where people fully express their nature in the variety of creative work that they do.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rattansi |first=Ali |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-16829-3 |title=Marx and the Division of Labour |date=1982 |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |isbn=978-0-333-28556-5 |location=London |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-16829-3}}</ref>

=== Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson ===
[[Henry David Thoreau]] criticised the division of labour in ''[[Walden]]'' (1854), on the basis that it removes people from a sense of connectedness with society and with the world at large, including nature. He claimed that the average man in a civilised society is less wealthy, in practice, than one in a "savage" society. The answer he gave was that [[self-sufficiency]] was enough to cover one's basic needs.<ref name=":2" />

Thoreau's friend and mentor, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], criticised the division of labour in his "[[The American Scholar]]" speech: a widely informed, [[Holism|holistic]] citizenry is vital for the spiritual and physical health of the country.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Scientific management : a management idea to reach a mass audience|last=Khurana|first=A.|date=2009|publisher=Global India Pub|isbn=978-93-80228-01-3|location=New Delhi|oclc=495418951}}</ref>

=== Émile Durkheim ===
In his seminal work, ''[[The Division of Labor in Society]]'', [[Émile Durkheim]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Alpert|first1=Harry|year=1959|title=Emile Durkheim: A Perspective and Appreciation|journal=American Sociological Review|volume=24|issue=4|pages=462–65|doi=10.2307/2089532|jstor=2089532}} A founding father of sociology, [[Émile Durkheim]], best known for his 1893 seminal work, ''[[The Division of Labour in Society|De La Division Du Travail Social]]'' [''The Division of Labor in Society''], "dedicated himself to the establishment of sociology as a legitimate and respected science and as an instrument of rational social action."</ref> observes that the division of labour appears in all societies and positively correlates with societal advancement because it increases as a society progresses.

Durkheim arrived at the same conclusion regarding the positive effects of the division of labour as his theoretical predecessor, [[Adam Smith]]. In ''The Wealth of Nations'', Smith observes the division of labour results in "a proportionable increase of the productive powers of labor."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Adam |title=The Wealth of Nations |date=2012-01-23 |publisher=Simon & Brown |isbn=978-1-61382-931-8 |language=English}}</ref> While they shared this belief, Durkheim believed the division of labour applied to all "biological organisms generally," while Smith believed this law applied "only to human societies."<ref name="JonesRobert">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Robert Alun |title=Emile Durkheim: an introduction to four major works |date=1992 |publisher=Sage Publ |isbn=978-0-8039-2333-1 |edition=4 |series=Masters of social theory |location=Newbury Park, California}}</ref> This difference may result from the influence of [[Charles Darwin]]'s ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' on Durkheim's writings.<ref name="JonesRobert" /> For example, Durkheim observed an apparent relationship between "the functional specialisation of the parts of an organism" and "the extent of that organism's evolutionary development," which he believed "extended the scope of the division of labour so as to make its origins contemporaneous with the origins of life itself…implying that its conditions must be found in the essential properties of all organised matter."<ref name="JonesRobert" />

Since Durkheim's division of labour applied to all organisms, he considered it a "[[natural law]]" and worked to determine whether it should be embraced or resisted by first analysing its functions.<ref name="JonesRobert" /> Durkheim hypothesised that the division of labour fosters [[social solidarity]], yielding "a wholly moral phenomenon" that ensures "mutual relationships" among individuals.<ref name="Durkheim Emile">Durkheim, Emile. [1893] 1997. ''[[The Division of Labour in Society|The Division of Labor in Society]].'' New York: [[Free Press (publisher)|The Free Press]]. Print.</ref>
[[File:Émile Durkheim.jpg|thumb|Émile Durkheim]]
As social solidarity cannot be directly quantified, Durkheim indirectly studies solidarity by "classify[ing] the different types of law to find...the different [[Mechanical and organic solidarity|types of social solidarity]] which correspond to it."<ref name="Durkheim Emile" /> Durkheim categorises:<ref name="Anderson Margaret">[[Margaret L. Anderson|Anderson, Margaret L.]] and [[Howard F. Taylor]]. 2008. ''Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society.'' Belmont, CA: [[Thomson Wadsworth]]. Print.</ref>

* [[criminal law]]s and their respective punishments as promoting '''mechanical solidarity''', a sense of unity resulting from individuals engaging in similar work who hold shared backgrounds, traditions, and values; and
* [[Civil law (legal system)|civil laws]] as promoting '''organic solidarity''', a society in which individuals engage in different kinds of work that benefit society and other individuals.

Durkheim believes that [[organic solidarity]] prevails in more advanced societies, while mechanical solidarity typifies less developed societies.<ref>Moody, James. n.d. ''Sociology 138: Theory and Society.'' [[Duke University]], Department of Sociology. Web. Retrieved 16 November 2012.</ref> He explains that in societies with more mechanical solidarity, the diversity and division of labour is much less, so individuals have a similar worldview.<ref name="Merton Robert">{{cite journal | last1 = Merton | first1 = Robert K | year = 1994 | title = Durkheim's Division of Labor in Society | journal = Sociological Forum | volume = 9 | issue = 1| pages = 17–25 | doi=10.1007/bf01507702| s2cid = 144951894 }}</ref> Similarly, Durkheim opines that in societies with more organic solidarity, the diversity of occupations is greater, and individuals depend on each other more, resulting in greater benefits to society as a whole.<ref name="Merton Robert" /> Durkheim's work enabled [[social science]] to progress more efficiently "in…the understanding of human social behavior."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Alpert | first1 = Harry | year = 1959 | title = Emile Durkheim: A Perspective and Appreciation | journal = American Sociological Review | volume = 24 | issue = 4| pages = 462–65 | doi=10.2307/2089532| jstor = 2089532 }}</ref>

=== Ludwig von Mises ===
[[File:Ludwig von Mises.jpg|thumb|Ludwig von Mises]]
Marx's theories, including his negative claims regarding the division of labour, have been criticised by the [[Austrian economists]], notably [[Ludwig von Mises]]. The primary argument is that the economic gains accruing from the division of labour far outweigh the costs, thus developing on the thesis that division of labour leads to cost efficiencies. It is argued that it is fully possible to achieve balanced human development within [[capitalism]] and [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]] is downplayed as mere romantic fiction.

According to [[Ludwig von Mises|Mises]], the idea has led to the concept of [[mechanisation]] in which a specific task is performed by a mechanical device, instead of an individual labourer. This method of production is significantly more effective in both yield and [[Cost-effectiveness analysis|cost-effectiveness]], and utilises the division of labour to the fullest extent possible. [[Ludwig von Mises|Mises]] saw the very idea of a task being performed by a specialised mechanical device as being the greatest achievement of division of labour.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mises|first=Ludwig|title=Human Action: A Treatise on Economics|year=1949|pages=164}}</ref>

=== Friedrich A. Hayek ===
In "[[The Use of Knowledge in Society]]", [[Friedrich A. Hayek]] states:<ref>[[Friedrich A. Hayek|Hayek, Friedrich A.]] 1945. "[[The Use of Knowledge in Society]]." ''[[The American Economic Review|American Economic Review]]'' 35(4):519–30.</ref>
[[File:Friedrich Hayek portrait.jpg|thumb|Friedrich Hayek portrait]]

{{blockquote|The price system is just one of those formations which man has learned to use (though he is still very far from having learned to make the best use of it) after he had stumbled upon it without understanding it. Through it not only a division of labour but also a coordinated utilisation of resources based on an equally divided knowledge has become possible. The people who like to deride any suggestion that this may so usually distort the argument by insinuating that it asserts that by some miracle just that sort of system has spontaneously grown up which is best suited to modern civilisation. It is the other way round: man has been able to develop that division of labour on which our civilisation is based because he happened to stumble upon a method which made it possible. Had he not done so, he might still have developed some other, altogether different, type of civilisation, something like the "state" of the termite ants, or some other altogether unimaginable type.|title=|source=}}

== Globalisation and global division of labour ==
The issue reaches its broadest scope in the controversies about [[globalization|globalisation]], which is often interpreted as a euphemism for the expansion of [[international trade]] based on [[comparative advantage]]. This would mean that countries specialise in the work they can do at the lowest relative cost measured in terms of the [[opportunity cost]] of not using resources for other work, compared to the opportunity costs experienced by countries. Critics, however, allege that international specialisation cannot be explained sufficiently in terms of "the work nations do best", rather that this specialisation is guided more by [[commerce|commercial]] criteria, which favour some countries over others.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Cope|first=Zak|title=Divided world, divided class : global political economy and the stratification of labour under capitalism|year=2015|publisher=Kersplebedeb |isbn=978-1-894946-68-1|oclc=905638389}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|first=Samir|last=Amin|title=Unequal development : an essay on the social formations of peripheral capitalism |date=1976|publisher=Monthly Review Press|oclc=1151842795}}</ref>

The [[OECD]] advised in June 2005<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khurana |first=A. |title=Scientific management : a management idea to reach a mass audience |date=2009 |publisher=Global India Pub |isbn=978-93-80228-01-3 |location=New Delhi |pages=136 |oclc=495418951}}</ref> that:

{{blockquote|Efficient policies to encourage employment and combat unemployment are essential if countries are to reap the full benefits of globalisation and avoid a backlash against open trade... Job losses in some sectors, along with new job opportunities in other sectors, are an inevitable accompaniment of the process of globalisation... The challenge is to ensure that the adjustment process involved in matching available workers with new job openings works as smoothly as possible.}}

Few studies have taken place regarding the global division of labour. Information can be drawn from [[International Labour Organization|ILO]] and national statistical offices.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|date=25 January 2007|title=ILO releases Global Employment Trends 2007|url=http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/public/releases/yr2007/pr07_02sa.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006103439/http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/public/releases/yr2007/pr07_02sa.htm|archive-date=6 October 2008|publisher=ILO News|location=BANGKOK}}</ref> In one study, Deon Filmer estimated that 2.474 billion people participated in the global non-domestic [[Workforce|labour force]] in the mid-1990s. Of these:<ref>{{Citation |title=Introduction: A World at Work |date=1995-06-30 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/9780195211023_chapter1 |work=World Development Report 1995 |pages=9–14 |publisher=The World Bank |doi=10.1596/9780195211023_chapter1 |isbn=978-0-19-521102-3 |access-date=2022-08-03|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

* around 15%, or 379 million people, worked in industry;
* a third, or 800 million worked in services and
* over 40%, or 1,074 million, in agriculture.

The majority of workers in industry and services were wage and salary earners—58 per cent of the industrial workforce and 65 per cent of the services workforce. But a large portion was self-employed or involved in family labour. Filmer suggests the total of employees worldwide in the 1990s was about 880 million, compared with around a billion working on their own account on the land (mainly peasants), and some 480 million working on their own account in industry and services. The 2007 [[International Labour Organization|ILO]] Global Employment Trends Report indicated that services have surpassed agriculture for the first time in human history:<ref name=":3" /><blockquote>In 2006 the service sector's share of global employment overtook agriculture for the first time, increasing from 39.5 to 40 per cent. Agriculture decreased from 39.7 per cent to 38.7 per cent. The industry sector accounted for 21.3 per cent of total employment.</blockquote>

== Contemporary theories ==
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2020}}{{tone|section|date=January 2020}}
In the modern world, those specialists most preoccupied in their work with theorising about the division of labour are those involved in [[management]] and [[organization|organisation]].

In general, in [[Capitalism|capitalist economies]], such things are not decided consciously.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Adam |date=March 2003 |title=The Wealth of Nations |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Bantam Dell |pages=9–27 |isbn=978-0-553-58597-1}}</ref> Different people try different things, and that which is most [[Cost–benefit analysis|effective cost-wise]] (produces the most and best output with the least input) will generally be adopted. Often, techniques that work in one place or time do not work as well in another.

=== Styles of division of labour ===
Two styles of management that are seen in modern organisations are control and commitment:<ref name="autogenerated2007">McAlister-Kizzier, Donna. 2007. "Division of Labor." ''Encyclopedia of Business and Finance'' (2nd ed.). – via [[Encyclopedia.com]]. 1 December 2014</ref>

# [[Control (management)|Control management]], the style of the past, is based on the principles of job specialisation and the division of labour. This is the [[assembly line|assembly-line]] style of job specialisation, where employees are given a very narrow set of tasks or one specific task.
# Commitment division of labour, the style of the future, is oriented on including the employee and building a level of internal commitment towards accomplishing tasks. Tasks include more responsibility and are coordinated based on expertise rather than a formal position.

Job specialisation is advantageous in developing employee [[expert]]ise in a field and boosting organisational production. However, disadvantages of job specialisation included limited employee skill, dependence on entire department fluency, and employee discontent with repetitive tasks.<ref name="autogenerated2007" />

=== Labour hierarchy ===
It is widely accepted among economists and social theorists that the division of labour is, to a great extent, inevitable within capitalist societies, simply because no one can do all tasks at once. Labour [[hierarchy]] is a very common feature of the modern capitalist workplace structure, and the way these hierarchies are structured can be influenced by a variety of different factors, including:<ref name="autogenerated2007" />

* Size: as organisations increase in size, there is a correlation in the rise of the division of labour.
* Cost: cost limits small organisations from dividing their labour responsibilities.
* Development of new technology: technological developments have led to a decrease in the amount of job specialisation in organisations as new technology makes it easier for fewer employees to accomplish a variety of tasks and still enhance production. New technology has also been helpful in the flow of information between departments helping to reduce the feeling of department isolation.

It is often argued that the most equitable principle in allocating people within hierarchies is that of true (or proven) [[Competence (human resources)|competency]] or ability. This concept of [[meritocracy]] could be read as an [[explanation]] or as a justification of why a division of labour is the way it is.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heuer |first1=Jan-Ocko |last2=Lux |first2=Thomas |last3=Mau |first3=Steffen |last4=Zimmermann |first4=Katharina |date=2020-11-16 |title=Legitimizing Inequality: The Moral Repertoires of Meritocracy in Four Countries |journal=Comparative Sociology |volume=19 |issue=4–5 |pages=542–584 |doi=10.1163/15691330-BJA10017 |issn=1569-1322|doi-access=free }}</ref>

This claim, however, is often disputed by various sources, particularly: 
* [[Marxism|Marxists]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Parkin|first=Frank|date=1982|title=Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40182929|journal=Reis|issue=20|pages=185–187|doi=10.2307/40182929|jstor=40182929|issn=0210-5233|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref> claim hierarchy is created to support the power structures in capitalist societies which maintain the [[capitalist class]] as the owner of the labour of workers, in order to exploit it. [[Anarchism|Anarchists]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Magda|first=Egoumenides|title=Philosophical anarchism and political obligation|date=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-1-4411-9357-5|oclc=900469099}}</ref> often add to this analysis by defending that the presence of coercive hierarchy in any form is contrary to the values of liberty and equality.
*[[Anti-imperialism|Anti-imperialists]] see the globalised labour hierarchy between [[first world]] and [[third world]] countries necessitated by companies (through [[unequal exchange]]) that create a [[labour aristocracy]] by exploiting the poverty of workers in the developing world, where wages are much lower. These increased profits enable these companies to pay higher wages and taxes in the developed world (which fund [[welfare spending|welfare]] in first world countries), thus creating a working class satisfied with their standard of living and not inclined to revolution.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lenin|first=Vladimir Ilʹich|title=Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism: a popular outline|date=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-119256-7|oclc=835797169}}</ref> This concept is further explored in [[dependency theory]], notably by Samir Amin<ref name=":5" /> and Zak Cope.<ref name=":4" />

==Limitations==

[[Adam Smith]] famously said in ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' that the division of labour is limited by the extent of the market. This is because it is by the exchange that each person can be specialised in their work and yet still have access to a wide range of goods and services. Hence, reductions in barriers to exchange lead to increases in the division of labour and so help to drive economic growth. Limitations to the division of labour have also been related to coordination and transportation costs.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1467-6435.1956.tb02717.x | volume=9 | issue=2 | year=1956 | journal=Kyklos | pages=181–189 | last1 = Houthakker | first1 = H. S.| title=Economics and Biology: Specialization and Speciation }}</ref>

There can be motivational advantages to a reduced division of labour (which has been termed ‘[[job enlargement]]’ and '[[job enrichment]]').<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1348/096317901167460 | volume=74 | issue=4 | title=Future work design research and practice: Towards an elaborated model of work design | year=2001 | journal=Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology | pages=413–440 | last1 = Parker | first1 = Sharon K. | last2 = Wall | first2 = Toby D. | last3 = Cordery | first3 = John L.| s2cid=53985589 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d6a3/f011a4dd846c8bfb99b8f7bd87f870c18a57.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306230009/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d6a3/f011a4dd846c8bfb99b8f7bd87f870c18a57.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-06 }}</ref> Jobs that are too specialised in a narrow range of tasks are said to result in demotivation due to boredom and alienation. Hence, a [[Taylorism|Taylorist]] approach to work design contributed to worsened industrial relations.

There are also limitations to the division of labour (and the division of work) that result from [[workflow]] variations and uncertainties.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wadeson |first=Nigel |date=2013 |title=The Division of Labour under Uncertainty |url=http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/28821/6/divOfLAB.pdf |journal=Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics |language=en |volume=169 |issue=2 |pages=253–274 |doi=10.1628/093245613X13620416111326 |s2cid=27802191 |issn=0932-4569 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427205326/http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/28821/6/divOfLAB.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-27}}</ref><ref>Barrera, Catherine Grace. 2014. "[https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/12274210/Barrera_gsas.harvard_0084L_11617.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y Skill, Job Design, and the Labor Market under Uncertainty]" (Doctoral dissertation). [[Harvard University]]. [[Harvard Library|Harvard Library ID]]:{{Spaces|1}}[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12274210 12274210].</ref> These help to explain issues in modern work organisation, such as task consolidations in [[business process reengineering|business process re-engineering]] and the use of multi-skilled work teams. For instance, one stage of a production process may temporarily work at a slower pace, forcing other stages to slow down. One answer to this is to make some portion of resources mobile between stages so that those resources must be capable of undertaking a wider range of tasks. Another is to consolidate tasks so that they are undertaken one after another by the same workers and other resources. Stocks between stages can also help to reduce the problem to some extent but are costly and can hamper quality control. Modern [[flexible manufacturing system]]s require both flexible machines and flexible workers.

In '''project-based work''', the coordination of resources is a difficult issue for the [[project manager]] as project [[Schedule (project management)|schedules]] and resulting resource bookings are based on [[Estimation (project management)|estimates]] of task durations and so are subject to subsequent revisions. Again, consolidating tasks so that they are undertaken consecutively by the same resources and having resources available that can be called on at short-notice from other tasks can help to reduce such problems, though at the cost of reduced specialisation.

There are also advantages in a reduced division of labour where knowledge would otherwise have to be transferred between stages.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.ejor.2003.07.015 | volume=161 | issue=3 | title=Activity consolidation to improve responsiveness | year=2005 | journal=European Journal of Operational Research | pages=683–703 | last1 = Rummel | first1 = Jeffrey L. | last2 = Walter | first2 = Zhiping | last3 = Dewan | first3 = Rajiv | last4 = Seidman | first4 = Abraham}}</ref> For example, having a single person deal with a customer query means that only that one person has to be familiar with the customer's details. It is also likely to result in the query being handled faster due to the elimination of delays in passing the query between different people.

== Gendered division of labour ==
{{Main|Gender role|Women's work|Sexual division of labour|Occupational segregation}}{{More citations needed section|date=July 2020}}
The clearest exposition of the principles of '''sexual division of labour''' across the full range of human societies can be summarised by a large number of logically complementary implicational constraints of the following form: if women of childbearing ages in a given community tend to do X (e.g., preparing soil for [[planting]]) they will also do Y (e.g., the planting); while for men the logical reversal in this example would be that if men plant, they will prepare the soil.

White, Brudner, and Burton's (1977) "Entailment Theory and Method: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Sexual Division of Labor",<ref>{{Cite web |last1=White |first1=Douglas R. |last2=Burton |first2=Michael L. |last3=Brudner |first3=Lilyan A. |date=1977 |title=Entailment Theory and Method: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Sexual Division of Labor |url=http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/pub/Entail77.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517143452/http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/pub/Entail77.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2006 |access-date=13 August 2006 |website=BEHAVIOR SCIENCE RESEARCH VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1}}</ref> using statistical [[entailment]] analysis, shows that tasks more frequently chosen by women in these order relations are those more convenient in relation to [[childrearing|child rearing]]. This type of finding has been replicated in a variety of studies, including those on modern industrial economies. These entailments do not restrict how much work for any given task could be done by men (e.g., in [[cooking]]) or by women (e.g., in clearing forests), but are only least-effort or role-consistent tendencies. To the extent that women clear forests for agriculture, for example, they tend to do the entire agricultural sequence of tasks on those clearings. In theory, these types of constraints could be removed by provisions of child care, but [[ethnographic]] examples are lacking.

== Industrial organisational psychology ==
Job satisfaction has been shown to improve as an employee is given the task of a specific job. Students who have received [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhDs]] in a chosen field later report increased satisfaction compared to their previous jobs. This can be attributed to their high levels of specialisation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kelly | first1 = E. L. | last2 = Goldberg | first2 = L. R. | year = 1959 | title = Correlates of later performance and specialization in psychology: A follow-up study of the trainees assessed in the VA Selection Research Project | journal = Psychological Monographs: General and Applied | volume = 73 | issue = 12| pages = 1–32 | doi = 10.1037/h0093748 }}</ref> The higher the training needed for the specialised job position, the higher is the level of job satisfaction as well, although many highly specialised jobs can be monotonous and produce high rates of burnout periodically.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Adeyoyin | first1 = S. O. | last2 = Agbeze-Unazi | first2 = F. | last3 = Oyewunmi | first3 = O. O. | last4 = Adegun | first4 = A. I. | last5 = Ayodele | first5 = R. O. | year = 2015 | title = Effects of Job Specialization and Departmentalization on Job Satisfaction among the Staff of a Nigerian University Library | url = http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3470&context=libphilprac | journal = Library Philosophy and Practice | pages = 1–20 }}</ref>

== Division of work ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2020}}
In contrast to division of labour, '''division of work''' refers to the division of a large task, contract, or project into smaller tasks—each with a separate schedule within the overall project schedule.

Division of labour, instead, refers to the allocation of tasks to individuals or organisations according to the skills and/or equipment those people or organisations possess. Often division of labour and division of work are both part of the [[economic activity]] within an [[industrial nation]] or organisation.

== Disaggregated work ==
{{Main|Disaggregated work}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2020}}
A job divided into elemental parts is sometimes called "disaggregated work". Workers specialising in particular parts of the job are called professionals. The workers doing a portion of a non-recurring work may be called [[general contractor|contractors]], [[freelancer]]s, or [[temporary work]]ers. Modern [[information and communications technology|communication technologies]], particularly the [[Internet]], gave rise to the [[sharing economy]], which is orchestrated by [[online marketplace]]s for various kinds of disaggregated work.

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Asset poverty]]
* [[Complex society]]
* [[Economic sector]]
* [[Economies of scale]]
* [[Family economy]]
* [[Fordism]]
* [[Identity performance]]
* [[Industrialisation]]
* [[Kyriarchy]]
* [[Mechanisation]]
* [[New international division of labour]]
* [[Newly industrialised country]]
* [[Precariat]]
* [[Precarious work]]
* [[Productive and unproductive labour]]
* [[Price system]]
* [[Role suction]]
* [[Surplus product]]
* [[Temporary work]]
* [[Urbanization|Urbanisation]]
* [[Winner and loser culture]]{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Gary S. Becker|Becker, Gary S.]] 1991. "Division of Labor in Households and Families." Ch. 2 in ''[[A Treatise on the Family]]''. [[Harvard University Press]], {{ISBN|0-674-90698-5}}.
* —— 1985. "Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor." ''[[Journal of Labor Economics]]'' 3(1.2):S33–S58. {{JSTOR|2534997}}
*[[Harry Braverman|Braverman, Harry]]. 1974. ''[[Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century]]''. [[Monthly Review Press]].
* [[Stephanie Coontz|Coontz, Stephanie]], and Peta Henderson. ''Women's Work, Men's Property: The Origins of Gender and Class''.
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cowen |first= Tyler|author-link= Tyler Cowen|editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher= [[SAGE Publishing|SAGE]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n79 |isbn= 978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |pages= 125–26 |chapter= Division of Labor}}
* [[Émile Durkheim|Durkheim, Émile]]. 1893. ''[[The Division of Labour in Society]]''.
* [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson, Ralph Waldo]]. "[[The American Scholar]]."
* Filmer, Deon. "Estimating the World at Work" (a background report).
* [[Richard Florida|Florida, Richard]]. 2002. ''[[The Rise of the Creative Class]]''.
* —— ''The Flight of the Creative Class''.
* Froebel, F., J. Heinrichs, and O. Krey. ''The New International Division of Labour''. Cambridge, UK: [[Cambridge University Press]].
* [[Herbert Gintis|Gintis, Herbert]], [[Samuel Bowles (economist)|Samuel Bowles]], Robert T. Boyd, and [[Ernst Fehr|Ernst Feghr]]. ''Moral Sentiments and Material Interests: The Foundations of Cooperation in Economic Life''.
* [[Robert E. Goodin|Goodin, Robert E.]], [[James Mahmud Rice]], Antti Parpo, and Lina Eriksson. 2008. "Household Regimes Matter." Pp.&nbsp;197–257 in ''[[Discretionary Time|Discretionary Time: A New Measure of Freedom]]''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9780521709514}}. Cambridge ID: [http://www.cambridge.org/9780521709514 9780521709514].
* [[André Gorz|Gorz, André]]. ''The Division of Labour: The Labour Process and Class Struggle in Modern Capitalism''.
* Groenewegen, Peter. 1987. "division of labour." Pp.&nbsp;901–07 in ''[[The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics|The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics]]'' 1.
* [[James Heartfield|Heartfield, James]]. 2001. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20081216230210/http://www.heartfield.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/economy.pdf The Economy of Time]." ''Cultural Trends'' 43/44:155–59
* [[Bertell Ollman|Ollman, Bertell]]. ''Sexual and Social Revolution''.
* Rattansi, Ali. ''Marx and the Division of Labour''.
* [[George Reisman|Reisman, George]]. [1990] 1998. [http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/CAPITALISM_Internet.pdf ''Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics'']. Laguna Hills, CA: TJS Books. {{ISBN|978-1-931089-25-8}}.
* [[Robert Solow|Solow, Robert M.]], and Jean-Philippe Touffut, eds. 2010. ''[http://www.centre-cournot.org/index.php/2010/11/09/november-2010-release-the-shape-of-the-division-of-labour-nations-industries-and-households/#more-5620{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Shape of the Division of Labour: Nations, Industries and Households]''{{dead link|date=March 2015}}. Cheltenham, UK: [[Edward Elgar Publishing|Edward Elgar]]. 
** Contributors: [[Bina Agarwal]], [[Martin Neil Baily|Martin Baily]], [[Jean-Louis Beffa]], [[Richard N. Cooper]], [[Jan Fagerberg]], [[Elhanan Helpman]], [[Shelly Lundberg]], Valentina Meliciani, and Peter Nunnenkamp.
* [[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard, Murray]]. 19 March 2018. "[https://www.mises.org/fipandol.asp Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism and the Division of Labor]." ''[[Mises Institute]]''. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
* [[Ludwig von Mises|von Mises, Ludwig]]. "[https://mises.org/humanaction/chap8sec3.asp Human Society: The Division of Labor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004060257/http://mises.org/humanaction/chap8sec3.asp |date=4 October 2014 }}." Pp.&nbsp;157–58 in [[Human Action|''Human Action: A Treatise on Economics'']]''.''
* —— "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140327013847/https://mises.org/humanaction/chap8sec4.asp Human Society: The Ricardian Law of Association]." Pp.&nbsp;158–60 in ''Human Action: A Treatise on Economics''.
* [[George Stigler|Stigler, George J.]] 1951. "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market." ''[[Journal of Political Economy]]'' 59(3):185–93. {{JSTOR|1826433}}
*''[[World Development Report]] 1995''. Washington, DC: [[World Bank]]. 1996.

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/adamsmith-summary.html Summary of Smith's example of pin-making] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322093822/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/adamsmith-summary.html |date=22 March 2009 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120509090509/http://www.centre-cournot.org/index.php/2009/11/12/conference2009/ Conference: "The New International Division of Labour"]. Speakers: Bina Agarwal, Martin Baily, Jean-Louis Beffa, Richard N. Cooper, Jan Fagerberg, Elhanan Helpman, Shelly Lundberg, Valentina Meliciani, Peter Nunnenkamp. Recorded in 2009.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Economic anthropology]]
[[Category:Industrial history]]
[[Category:Labor history]]
[[Category:Marxism]]
[[Category:Production (economics)]]