A Sociological Analysis of the Cartage Truck Driver's Occupation

• Main Author: Miller, Robert
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 1972
• Subjects: Sociology
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1004; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2007&context=theses

This is an occupational study of the cartage truck driver in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Webster defines cartage as "the act of carrying by cart or truck, usually within a city." Bowling Green contains a flurry of diversified trucking activities. For this reason, the study has been narrowed to those drivers involved in the government-regulated transportation of mixed freight. It is believed that an occupational study of the cartage truck driver has never been attempted. Interest in the study of occupations, particularly that of the cartage truck driver, was developed through personal driving experience. This experience consisted of three and a half years driving straight trucks and tractor trailer trucks for cartage trucking companies in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Cleveland, Ohio. The importance of such a study of a particular occupation may be clarified through an overview of occupations as a whole. In addition, one must delve into historical background in order to understand why an occupation is studied independently. An occupation provides a man with a center of influence in the development of his interactive patterns with other men. From the Hawthorne studies, began in 1924, it became apparent that there is a close correlation between work efficiency and group interaction. Follow-up studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration gave rise to increased interest in the study of industry by sociologists. Thus, a new field of study came into being, that is, industrial sociology. Occupational sociology, or the study of specific occupations, is but one area of study for the industrial sociologist. Occupations are studied independent of one another because the world of work is a complex field of study, perhaps comparable to a giant jigsaw puzzle. The sociologist attempts to put the puzzle together; however, in order to do so, he must familiarize himself with each independent piece of the puzzle.